


Girls Don't Hit

by Geonn



Series: Girls Don't Hit [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Adultery, Assassins & Hitmen, Breathplay, Choking, Dark, F/F, Female Anti-Hero, Killing, Las Vegas, Masturbation, Mentor/Protégé, Murderers, New Orleans, Oral Sex, Portland Oregon, Rough Sex, Shower Sex, South Dakota, Tragedy, Villains, Violence, unsympathetic characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-23 17:48:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 91,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geonn/pseuds/Geonn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she's at home, Jocelyn Webb is a wife and mother of two. When she's at work, Joss Kurtis is a skilled assassin with ninety-two deaths under her belt. Before she's allowed to mark off her ninety-third kill, her handler informs her that she's been assigned a protege.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To avoid any confusion, this story has been published as an ebook under the same title and is currently available in a variety of formats wherever ebooks are sold! None of the names were changed, it's my name on the cover, but I didn't want anyone to think there was a plagiarism culprit afoot. :)

The choice of Pierre was strategic. When time was of the essence, she could be anywhere in the country within five hours. It was a large enough city to get lost in, but not so large that she had to worry about an extraordinarily vigilant police presence. South Dakota was her refuge, her hiding place. The life she lived there - Jocelyn Webb, homemaker and corporate mediator - was nothing but a wool cap pulled down over her face to prevent people from looking too closely at her. When she first started out, she tried her damnedest to be Susie Homemaker. She took night classes at the library, ordinary things like cooking, interior design, literature studies. Anything that she could use to appear more plain-Jane to her neighbors.

Myles supported her actions, since anything that deflected attention from their activities was to be applauded. She allowed her friends to set her up on blind dates with bachelor brothers and coworkers who were “just perfect for her.” She went on the dates, although she had to watch several abysmal romantic comedies to figure out how she should act. She’d never been particularly good at figuring that out for herself. She was only concerned with looking right between jobs. As far as she was concerned she was an actress playing a part, and Pierre was as good a place as any.

Sometimes there were only a few days between calls, other times she only got one call per month. She often got close to craziness during the longer dry spells. She often found herself following strangers through the Sutley’s parking lot, imagining how she would go about killing them. She never followed up on those urges; she never killed without being paid for it. She likened it to a mathematician playing Sudoku in his off hours. She was just keeping her skills honed for when they were needed.

After a few years of aimless dating she realized that some of her friends were whispering about her when she wasn’t around. She was fast approaching thirty and was still single, and might there be something wrong with her? The single male population of Pierre was dwindling as men her age either married or gay or she had dated and seemingly rejected them. To draw attention away from her strangeness Joss decided that the next man she dated would end up being her husband. Colin Webb was the lucky man, a slightly clumsy and skittish man with curly black hair and a permanent stubble. 

Seven months after their first date they were engaged, and two months after that they were married. She invited her friends from town and, when prompted to bulk up her guest list, lied and said her parents had died and she had no extended family. Myles attended the wedding when Jocelyn set him up with one of her ‘friends’ from the book club. When she became pregnant she considered terminating immediately, but a child would only improve her cover. It required her to spend a few months on the bench, but eventually she returned to work with a vengeance.

In her true life, when the veil was lifted and she stepped into the world as if finally awake from a dull dream, she was Joss Kurtis. She was a contract killer, hired by one anonymous person to kill another. Myles would call and provide her with the information, money would appear in the bank account Colin didn’t know about, and she would tell him she was being summoned out of town for a job. As far as he knew, she traveled to offices across the country to arbitrate disagreements between managers and employees, or to help defuse tenuous situations between coworkers. 

Her company was called Synergistic Business Services, and her title was ombudsman. Everything accurately fit her cover story, but it was so difficult to parse and understand that they got very few people calling them to actually serve as intermediaries. They had a branch in Pierre and Joss often went to sit in a cubicle and pretend to do work. She used the time to write up reports of her jobs, which she then printed out and deleted from the computer. The reports went to Myles. He hated email and any sort of electronic correspondence. He tolerated phones because they were a necessary evil in their line of work. His belief was that “no one ever hacked a piece of paper, and once it’s been shredded and mulched it’s gone.”

Joss killed for a living. She was very good at her job; she was approaching her one hundredth kill. The fact it had been twelve days since Myles last called made her anxious, but she knew it was only a matter of time before the phone rang again and she was packing another bag. She figured everyone in America knew at least one person they wanted dead. And there were plenty of people willing to pay in order to make that wish into a reality.

As long as they had the cash, Joss was more than willing to be the weapon of choice.

#

Joss was twenty-one the first time.

There was no real plan, no intention to become a murderer. All she wanted was revenge. She was studying architecture at Syracuse because she liked the aesthetics of buildings. A blueprint was something solid and definitive. She enjoyed creating something from the ground up and having something real and complete when she was finished. She had always been an introverted child, quiet and self-sufficient to the point where her parents were certain something was wrong with her. They set her up on playdates with children of their friends and she always found ways to either escape or divert the other kids so she could stay on her own. She didn’t need anyone else getting in the way of her games.

College allowed her the freedom to be her true self. Her roommate, Crystal, made a sign for her book bag that read “I’m Not Anti-Social. I’m Pro-Solitude.” She wore it proudly through freshman year and most people took the hint to leave her alone. She was able to spend long hours in the library without anyone approaching her to form a study group. She knew many people like her who quietly hoped for those invitations but she was grateful for the bubble.

Toward the end of her freshman year, she came onto Crystal. There was a brief awkward conversation during which Joss convinced her that choices made during college didn’t have to extend into the real world. They kissed, Crystal found it pleasant, and they progressed to having sex. They weren’t in a relationship in any sense of the word. Crystal still considered herself straight and often went out with men, but when she was single she would end up in bed with Joss more nights than not. Joss assumed it was Crystal’s way to ensure she never had to sleep alone, but she didn’t mind being used. 

They were together for almost a full year before Crystal was murdered. Her date was a bust and she decided to walk back to the dorms. She made it almost two-thirds of the way before one of the shadows on the path broke away from the darkness and began following her. No one reported hearing any disturbances, no shouting or screams until the RA went out to see why someone had left a pile of laundry on the walkway.

Crystal was rushed to the hospital, but she died from her injuries. A few people told Joss it meant an automatic A for her, but she refused to believe the urban legend. Even if it was true it would hardly be any comfort. She didn’t care about grades, and the only person she’d felt any kind of kinship toward was gone. The police didn’t have any leads and their mediocre response was to increase patrols in the area. Left to her own devices, Joss began pacing back and forth through the quad, passing through the darkened spaces Crystal would have taken on her final night.

It took three weeks before she heard furtive footsteps on the sidewalk behind her. She had earphones on so the bastard didn’t waste time on staying quiet. She waited until he was almost close enough to touch and then dropped into a crouch. She spun on the ball of her foot and relaxed her wrist. The baton slid out of her sleeve and she gripped the end of it as she started the swing. She heard it crack on his kneecap and he cried out in pain as he went down.

She pinned him to the ground with her body as she grabbed the lapels of his hoodie. She hauled him up and slammed him down, growling with rage as his head rebounded off the sidewalk. For a brief moment through the red rage she had the fear she had miscalculated, that she was assaulting an innocent person who just happened to be walking the same path she was. But then he thrust his fist up against her, just above her hip, and she felt the cloth of her shirt being pinched against her stomach. The discomfort came before the rush of warm blood, and she redoubled her effort.

He was dead when she stood up, his knife extending from her shirt like an odd handle. She was bleeding and also dripping his blood as she stared down at his broken body with detached disinterest. She held the knife in place, unsure if it was better to leave it or try taking it out, and she stumbled toward the RA’s room to report what had happened. She picked up the baton and carried it in her other hand until she found an appropriately thick bush where she could stow it.

The ambulance arrived moments before the police, and the EMTs insisted that Joss’ wound took precedence over the story. She finally told them that her roommate had been attacked so she was simply defending herself. One of the officers pointed out the fact she had been seen walking along the same path multiple times and suggested she had possibly been lying in wait for the man. She denied it, naturally, but they were still convinced it was a premeditated attack. She acknowledged she had been stabbed only after she started beating his head on the pavement, and one officer suggested maybe the victim had been carrying the knife as protection due to the recent murder of a student in the area.

As soon as they referred to the rapist as “the victim” she knew she was in trouble.

They took her to the station and sat her in a small room. It wasn’t like on television; there was a table and two chairs, but no mirror and no cameras that she could see. She stretched out on the floor because her stab wound still hurt despite the painkillers she’d been given. One of the EMTs had given her a scrub top to replace her bloody blouse. She stared at the ceiling and waited.

After close to three hours she had fallen asleep. The door opened and Myles Hoffman entered her life. He was soft in the middle, visible even with his shabby suit hanging off of him like rumpled drapes. There was a dark stubble on his cheeks that thickened around his lips to become a half-hearted salt-and-pepper goatee. His hairline had receded to the top of his head, where it stood up in a shock that he’d made an attempt to slick back before entering.

“Miss Kurtis, I presume?”

“Are you my public defender?”

He smiled down at her. “No. Would you like a hand getting up?”

She didn’t answer, instead rolling onto her side and pushing her hands against the floor so she didn’t have to bend. As she stood, Myles introduced himself.

“You seem to be in a bit of trouble, Miss Kurtis.”

“That man was a rapist. He killed my friend.”

Myles nodded. “It may not seem this way right now, but the police agree with you. That’s why I’m here. One of the officers is a, um.” He squinted and seemed to be recalling a humorous anecdote. “Well, I wouldn’t call him a friend. But he believes your heart was in the right place so he called me to see if I could lend my expertise to helping you out. Have you ever heard of Synergistic Business Services?”

“No.”

“Good. We offer a unique brand of problem-solving techniques. The officers who arrested you said that you were calm and collected even with a knife wound. You weren’t exhibiting any signs of shock. That’s one of the reasons you’re in so much trouble, and the main reason I’m here. The police don’t like someone who can kill another human being without a physical reaction. But that is exactly what I’m looking for.

“I can make all of this go away, Joss. I can get the police off your back and see to it that you walk out of here a free woman. You killed the man who had raped and murdered your friend. The man who intended to do the same to you. If I had my way the cops would have to shake your hand and say thank you as you left, but that may be pushing it.”

Joss said, “And what would I be doing in return?”

He smiled. “You showed great propensity in your attack tonight. You concealed your weapon admirably, and you tossed it before the police arrived. Nice initiative. You thought of that despite the fact you had just killed a man and you had a knife sticking out of you. We’d like to give you the chance to, um... ah... utilize that skillset. You see, it’s not as if people with these skills attend a college or seek out a recruiter. Those of us who provide the service are often left poring through all sorts of sundry police reports looking for someone who just might fit the bill.”

“You mean for an assassin.”

He smiled and pointed at her. “On the nose, kitten. Right on the nose.”

She stared at him for a long moment, her hand moving to cover her wound. She hadn’t taken the time to think about what she’d done, but a man was dead because of her. She’d beaten the life out of him. Yes, he was evil. He had personally harmed her by taking Crystal away. Would she be able to repeat the act on a total stranger? She expected to be sickened by the idea, but she was curious.

“How long would I be employed by your... Syger...”

“SBS. And it would be a one-job contract at first. We can play it by ear after that. If you decide it’s not for you...”

She grinned without humor. “You eliminate me.”

“No. Wow. What a harsh job interview that would be. No, no, no. If you decide not to stay with us after your first job is completed, we’ll pay you five-hundred thousand dollars a year for the next five years.” Her eyebrow shot up and he chuckled. “Incentive to quit, right? More like incentive to be friendly toward us. And after five years, if you still decide to turn on us, you’ll be an accomplice. You would know good and well where that money was coming from and you still took it.”

“Your severance package is two-point-five million dollars for one job?”

“This profession is very lucrative, Miss Kurtis.” He clasped his hands in front of his stomach and smiled. “So what do you say? Shall I begin the process of setting you free?”

She barely gave it a thought. “Sign me up.”

#

Seventeen years later, two children and a marriage later, ninety-two deaths later... Joss was in bed with Colin thinking about the last call she’d gotten from Myles. He wanted to meet up, which was a red flag in and of itself. Myles only wanted to meet for high-profile jobs or if things were going poorly. They’d once met in Denver because “someone in the government was poking around the periphery of SBS.” There was a chance the entire operation would be exposed and he wanted to make sure she had an escape strategy in place. She did; if necessary she didn’t even have to go back to South Dakota. But the threat was “removed,” and life went on.

She’d averaged five jobs a year since she started, a not-so-bad average. When she first started out she only killed once every six months or so. The bulk of her assignments had come in the past ten years. Even though she’d only met three or four other employees of SBS, not counting Myles. They believed very strongly in separation of labor and plausible deniability. If one was caught they couldn’t be coerced to give up information they didn’t possess. 

In the morning she got out of bed before the alarm and took a shower. Myles scheduled the meeting for later afternoon in Trenton, New Jersey. She had a flight out at noon, and her bag was already packed at the foot of the bed. She didn’t worry herself about the reasons he might want to meet. She had been summoned and she would be there. She just hoped it was something mundane, like a political target whose name couldn’t be passed in the same manner as her other jobs. She was dressing when Colin finally woke, and he watched her for a long moment before he pushed the blankets away and sat up.

“Where are you off to today?”

“I told you. Trenton.”

He nodded. “Right. Sorry.” He put his feet on the floor and leaned forward, scratching his head through his thick curls. “Are you going to leave before Madison and Tommy get up?”

She could conceivably stick around until breakfast without missing her flight. “Yeah. Sorry. You know how security can be in the mornings.”

“Sure.” He stood up and shuffled into the bathroom to take his shower. She remembered when she was dating him, all the hopelessly saccharine romance novels she read in order to figure out what a man might be looking for in a wife. She emulated her Harlequin heroines to a tee, smiling to show her teeth and flashing her pearly-whites to everyone who crossed her line of sight. She was sweet and polite and never without a nice thing to say. She played the part perfectly. Colin’s mother adored her, his father seemed almost jealous of his son’s luck, and all of his friends practically begged him to make it official before one of them could snatch her up.

It sickened her how easily people were manipulated, and how much they liked the false face she put on for them. Sometimes she drove out of town, adding an hour to her commute both ways, just so she could shop in a market where no one knew her. She would run her cart into other customers and then snap at them to watch where they were going. She was surly and short with her clerks, unwilling to accept even the briefest of delays with check-out. She saved her best vitriol for the road, hurling insults at other drivers with her windows rolled up just so she could get it out of her system.

After the marriage, after forcing herself through the tacky and overwrought maelstrom of planning and tolerating the actual ceremony, she began to relax herself a little. If there were people she truly couldn’t stand, they became the targets of what other friends began referring to as “Jocelyn’s sour moods.” She scolded her friends’ children and didn’t care when the other mothers began to avoid her.

Colin got the most whiplash. After the wedding, he lost the flirtatious and sexy woman he’d been promised. She still had sex with him almost as often as he wanted but her desire seemed to have evaporated, dried up by the rice thrown by their family members when they left the chapel. Sometimes she wondered why he bothered staying with her. The kids? Perhaps. And his affairs certainly helped take the edge off. She wondered if he had someone on the side currently or if he was between mistresses. She wished she could ask. 

She took her bags and left, moving swiftly past the rooms at the end of the hall so she wouldn’t wake the children. They were nice distractions, a good part of her cover, but she couldn’t bear the act they forced her to put on. Occasionally a permission slip would find its way in front of her and she would scrawl her name along the bottom without paying much attention. For the most part she delegated the necessities to Colin, handing over money that he used to buy school supplies and clothes. She had no idea when laptops and iPads became required by middle schools, but they had bought both for Madison when she said it was only for school work.

Outside in the pre-dawn, she looked back at the house as she got into her car. Madison’s bedroom light was on, meaning she was either up early or had fallen asleep studying. The girl was intriguing. Jocelyn supposed there was some sort of maternal bond, but there were also the hints that the girl was growing up to be just like her. On the rare occasions Jocelyn drove her home from school, Madison often spent the drive complaining about the stupidity of her teachers or bitching about the other kids. 

“Diane,” Madison had scoffed a few weeks ago. She turned to watch the neighborhood zip past the window. “She’s an obnoxious bitch. Always trying to hang around me just because I’m on the soccer team. She’s like a groupie. I just wish she would go away.”

Jocelyn wondered if she could get away with eliminating the troublesome twit, maybe for Madison’s birthday. She didn’t like taking jobs in Pierre, but this wouldn’t be a job. She wouldn’t be paid for offing a fifteen-year-old. If she did kill Diane, it would be like a carpenter fixing a cabinet door in his own kitchen. Home maintenance.

She didn’t want the hassle of cleaning up a kill in a town where people knew her, but something would have to be done. She was getting sick of Madison’s whining over it.

Jocelyn pulled out of the spot and drove to the airport. She checked in for her flight, then went into the ladies room to change. Jocelyn - the suit and high heels - went into her bag. She changed her underwear as well. Jocelyn Webb was plain Hanes; Joss Kurtis was lace. She put on nude stockings and a black skirt with a slit up either side to show off the muscles of her thighs and free up her movement if she had to run. She put on a blood-red blouse unbuttoned far enough to reveal the scooped-neck of her undershirt.

She entered the bathroom as Jocelyn Webb, wife and mother of two, but she stepped out as Joss Kurtis, contract killer. She walked to her gate and settled in to await the departure of her flight. She knew it would do no good wondering what Myles had in store. All she could do was wait until she arrived in Trenton and let him reveal the truth in his own time.

As she waited she eyed a pretty blonde seated across from her, back to the window, either engrossed in the magazine she held or pretending in order to prevent conversation. It was a ruse Joss knew well. As she stared the blonde looked up and met Joss’ gaze. She held it for a moment, seemed to weigh the options, and then offered a half-smile. Joss returned it and then broke the connection by looking away. 

If Myles was calling her to Trenton for business, there was a chance she could also find time to fit in a little pleasure before she headed home. She’d spent too many nights sharing her bed with a man she didn’t find attractive in the least. She needed to get laid, and the traveler across from her was as good a candidate as any. She allowed herself a smile at the possibilities, replacing apprehension over Myles’ summons with arousal at the possibility of a one-night stand once she and the other passenger reached New Jersey.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter says Trenton, the airport is now Newark. There's no real reason for this, but to escape any confusion in future chapters...

The airport was fairly deserted when Joss arrived. It was raining in New Jersey and the glass windows looking out onto the tarmac were opaque with streaks of falling water. Joss enjoyed the feeling of being enclosed in the glass case of a reversed aquarium. She sent a text to Myles telling him she had arrived and he responded within a few seconds and told her he was at a shoeshine stand in Terminal C. She took the monorail and soon saw that he hadn’t been exaggerating. He waved to her as she approached, smiling when she raised an eyebrow at the archaic sight.

“Isn’t it remarkable? I didn’t think these things existed in this day and age.”

Joss stood behind the petite young woman who was running a white rag over the side of Myles’ loafer. She would have expected an elderly man, some white-haired smiling goblin man holding on to his life’s work in the face of a changing society. But this girl looked fresh out of high school, and she wore a white shirt with a black bow-tie. Myles watched her watching the girl and his smile widened.

“Thinking about a snack?”

“No. I ate on the plane.”

Myles nodded his thanks to the shoeshine girl, who glanced at Joss’ shoes to see if she as another potential client. Joss shook her head no and the girl stood and went behind her little lectern to make change. Myles waved her off, thanked her for the shine, and guided Joss away with a hand on her elbow.

“Those little bathrooms? I thought that was just an urban legend.”

“Depends on how determined you are. And how flexible. Thomas had a sleepover and Madison was on an overnight field trip, so I was forced to fulfill marital duties.”

“Poor baby. Deborah, that’s the lovely girl who runs the shine stand, told me that she mostly gets businesswomen as clients. High heels and such. So few men wear shine-able shoes these days. So many sneakers or God forbid sandals.”

They walked through the terminal, passing gates along the way until they reached the concourse. Myles stopped and moved to stand near a bank of shining silver payphones, another symbol from a bygone era. With the world outside obscured by the rain, it was easy for Joss to pretend she had really transported to a different time. She leaned next to him and waited.

There was a steady stream of passengers passing them, and Joss watched how they moved. People left themselves vulnerable in so many ways; earbuds prevented them from hearing an approach, eyes were flat and unfocused as the mind wandered. People describe sudden events as “shocking” because it literally shocks them out of a dullard stupor and forces them to acknowledge the world around them. Following one, waiting for an opening, and killing them wasn’t a matter of her skill. She simply took advantage of the victim’s willingness to ignore the world around them.

“The blonde in the red jacket.”

Joss adjusted the angle of her head. The woman, the girl, in question was approaching amid a group of other travelers. She had her head turned toward the window, her hair clipped back so that it stayed out of her face. Joss guessed her to be twenty-one or twenty-two. She scanned the crowd as she moved, surreptitiously moving her eyes to track movement before doing another circuit. She carried a bag over one shoulder and its weight altered her posture. 

“Looks easy enough.”

Myles laughed. “No. She’s not a target. She’s a potential colleague. Come on, walk with me.”

They joined the flow of foot traffic a few seconds after the blonde passed them. 

“Who is she?”

“That’s not important. What’s important is who she is going to be.”

“She’s young. Pretty. She’ll stand out. You and I are good at our jobs because people don’t notice us. They let their eyes slip right over us.”

Myles looked at her. “You think you’re unattractive? Or are you simply fishing for a compliment? Either way, it’s not true. We work well because we’re unthreatening. Women see me and think I’m a harmless accountant, men see me as a regular Joe who isn’t enough of a threat to worry about. I’m the guy who got bullied his whole life and is just trying to make it through a day without confrontation.”

Joss could believe that. He had lost a little more hair since their first meeting, the shock in the middle of his bald spot gone, and his suits fit no better than they had almost twenty years earlier. But she knew under the rumpled blazer was toned muscle. He had a grip that could crush stones, and he used it to great effect when carrying out his own assignments. 

“And you,” he continued, “women see you as a kindred spirit. A witness, at the very least. We are terrified of the dark and yet, when offered the presence of another person, our fear diminishes almost instantly if that person isn’t a stereotypical threat. How many people have you put to ease moments before finishing the job?”

Joss thought back to Austin, Texas. The woman who stepped outside for some fresh air. She looked up when she heard Joss approaching and laughed nervously. “Sorry. You scared me.”

“Are you okay?” Joss had asked. She bent forward and stroked the target’s hair, leaning to one side so the other woman would be blocked from sight. 

“Just had a little too much. Got a bit woozy. I’ll be fine in a second.”

“I don’t think you will.”

Before the woman could ask what she meant, Joss had slipped the blade between her ribs. She clapped her other hand against the woman’s mouth and stepped in close, pinning her to the wall as she used her own weight to drive the knife deeper. The woman’s eyes were wide above Joss’ hand, struggling for breath even as her blood pumped out around Joss’ hand. She heard footsteps on the gravel and male voices, but they either didn’t see what was happening or they didn’t care. When the body was limp she’d let the woman sag to the ground, arranged her, and then walked out of the alley. She was covered with blood when someone came out of the bar and saw her.

“She’s not saying anything. Oh, God. I think... I think something happened to her.”

Joss had sobbed while the man checked out the situation, forcing a sob as he took out his phone to call 911. Sometime after the call but before the police arrived, Joss slipped away into the night.

Still, she wasn’t entirely convinced by Miles’ argument. “She’s gorgeous. People notice gorgeous people.”

“They might notice her, but she is above suspicion. Just like you were in Texas.”

Joss glanced at Myles, once again half-convinced he had psychic powers. “How old is she?”

“She just turned twenty-five. Looks younger, doesn’t she. Once again, that works in her favor.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

He sighed. “We have five women in this company. I could have had her trained by one of the men, but it’s a difference experience for men. I wanted her to learn from the best, from someone who knew how to use her sex as an asset rather than a hindrance. Show her the ropes. Make her as good as you are. Mold her. She is your paper doll.”

Joss stared at his profile as they walked. After he refused to meet her gaze for over ten steps, she finally looked forward again. They had reached baggage claim, and the girl in question was standing near the carousel with her back to them.

“So what am I supposed to do? Take her home, tell Colin she’s a long-lost cousin?”

“Miss Barrett doesn’t have to live with you. Just take her on assignments. Let her see how you work, like you did with Greta.” This time he did meet her gaze, and he chuckled. “Well, maybe not exactly like Greta. Like I said, we only have five women working for us. Occasionally there are circumstances when a male operative simply won’t do. I like to have a choice when I make the assignments, so I started looking around for a new hire. Hear her story. She’s here to meet you, but I told her we would be getting in touch at another location. Follow her for a bit if you want. I think you’ll be as impressed as I am. Give her three days before you make a firm decision. She might surprise you.” He reached into his pocket and handed her a manila envelope. She knew that inside she would find a plane ticket home and a dossier. “You go home on Monday. Call me before you leave to tell me your decision.”

“If I decide no?”

“Then you should take care of her before you leave.” He smiled coldly. “It’s a brutal job interview, but we mustn’t allow ourselves to be endangered by bitter former applicants.”

With that he left her. She watched as the girl stepped closer to the carousel and hauled a bag from the rolling procession, extended the handle, and then dragged it along behind her. She picked up a rental car and took the keys out to the parking lot, head down so she could fumble with her keys as she walked. She unlocked the car and put the bag in her trunk, then got behind the wheel. Before she could put the key in the ignition, Joss slid into the passenger seat and pressed the barrel of her gun into the girl’s side. She pressed hard so it could be felt through her coat and shirt, hard enough to maybe leave a bruise on the tender skin, but she didn’t care. 

“I could have killed you six times since you got off the plane. Put your hands on the steering wheel.” She complied. “Do you have any weapons?”

“N-no. I flew.” She furrowed her brow, still facing forward. “Where did you get a gun?”

“It’s my job to have a gun no matter where I am. Who arranged this meeting?”

Beads of sweat had appeared on the girl’s brow and upper lip. “I-I-I wasn’t... he said not to tell anyone his name.” Her bottom lip trembled. “Please don’t kill me.”

“Why are you here?”

She looked askance at Joss, then quickly faced forward. The parking lot was covered, but the day was still prematurely dark due to the downpour. Occasionally lightning flashed and cast sharp shadows through the lot. She swallowed a lump in her throat and pressed her lips together.

“You’re here because you killed someone. I know that much. I want more details. Who did you kill?”

“A therapist.” Her voice was soft, and her hands relaxed on the steering wheel as soon as she spoke. It was as if all the tension in her body was going toward keeping the words in, and once she spoke they came flooding out. “My parents sent me to him to talk about problems I’d been having in college. I didn’t want to talk to him, but I figured if I had to... My parents were going to check in and make sure I was going, so I thought why not get something out of the experience. I told him everything. I told him that sometimes I thought about hurting people for the smallest things. A woman talks too loud on her cell phone at Starbucks. A man cuts me off in traffic. I would envision how I would kill them in such vivid detail.” She closed her eyes. “He threatened to tell my parents and alert the police. I begged him not to, but he just wouldn’t listen.”

Joss looked out the window to see if anyone had noticed them. They were still alone. “How did you do it?”

“He had golf clubs in his office. I’d always wondered if I could do it, so I just grabbed one and knocked him out with it. I hit him until he stopped moving.”

“When did Myles come in?”

The girl looked at her in surprise, then swallowed. “At the police station. I kept quiet, but the secretary had found me in his office. I was all bloody.” She swallowed again. “My mouth is dry.”

“Keep talking.”

“Myles found me. He told me that he was privy to Dr. Brook’s notes and said he’d been watching me for some time. It was so creepy, but he said... he said that he could make it all go away. He said he could give me an outlet for my rage. I said yes. He made it look like Dr. Brook had tried to take advantage of me. My story was that he’d asked me to suck his cock as part of the healing process and when I refused he started making up lies. Then he tried to force himself on me. So I fought back.”

Joss murmured and withdrew the gun. “Yeah, that’s a popular one.”

She looked over cautiously. “You’re... you’re not going to hurt me?”

“No.”

“You’re with Myles.”

“Yes. Start the car. There’s a motel near here. Not the Marriot, go to the next one.”

After a moment the girl did as she was told. She pulled out of the spot and drove out into the rain. The weather forced her to keep her attention mostly on the road, but whenever possible she looked over to see if Joss had put the gun away. It was still on her lap, but she had it pointed toward the front of the car instead of the driver. 

“My name--”

“I don’t care about your name. Myles called you Miss Barrett, is that right?” A nod. “Fine. As far as I’m concerned, you’re Echo.”

The girl looked like she wanted to protest but then wisely remained silent. She pulled into the second hotel she spotted and slowly passed through the parking lot in search of a space. When she turned off the engine she pressed back against the seat and glanced sideways at her passenger. She put her hands on her thighs and rubbed them slowly as she tried to keep her breathing under control. Joss took out the envelope Myles had given her and pinched the tabs open. She slid the papers out and looked at the photograph before handing it to Echo. It was a picture of an overweight man stuffed into a suit, standing on a street corner and staring at his phone.

“Who is this?”

“That’s the man you’re going to watch me kill.”


	3. Chapter 3

Joss made Echo carry her bags while she checked in. They were given a room on the top floor, and Joss pointed at the bed farthest from the door. “Put the bags there for now. You can take that one for yourself.” She sat on the foot of the other bed and took out the papers identifying her target. Echo sat on the other bed silently, rubbing her hands on her thighs as she watched Joss read.

“What did he do?”

“I don’t really care.”

“You don’t?”

Joss shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me. Myles does the legwork. He speaks to the client and gets the basic information. The target’s name is Robert Craig. He’s the manager of a telemarketing company.” She raised an eyebrow. “Well, there you go. No wonder someone wants him dead. It’s a principle thing.”

Echo was still staring at the picture on her lap. 

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know.”

Joss took the picture away. “You didn’t know who he was five minutes ago. If it wasn’t for this assignment you would never have known he existed. He’s just one person out of billions in the world. There might be something good and worthy about him, but we don’t care about that. We care about the one rotten, shameful, or just plain boring thing he did that made someone who does know him decide he needs to be dead. They paid a lot of money to make that happen.”

Echo nodded slowly. “Okay. How are... I mean. What’s the plan?”

Joss remained quiet for a long moment. She didn’t like discussing her job, had never really spoken about it aloud except to Myles. The idea of detailing her approach in such a bald manner made her cringe inwardly. Finally she found her voice and spoke calmly. “I usually watch the target for a day or two. If there are vulnerabilities, they’ll make it clear during that period. They’ll let their guard down and I’ll see them. When I have an opening, I take advantage of it. Barring that, I make the opening myself.” She looked at her watch. “According to the notes Robert Craig doesn’t even go to work for another hour. We’ll drive there and see what we can find out.”

“Is it going to happen today?”

“If there’s an opening. But no, it’s not likely today.” She opened her suitcase and took out a small black bag and tossed it. Echo nearly dropped it before pinching two fingers around the end. “Myles sometimes lets his people stay inside a certain geographic area. He doesn’t like it, but if the area is big enough... Manhattan, LA, whatever, you could maybe get away with it. Do you know how many murders there are in places like Topeka, Oklahoma City, Charleston? Large cities, certainly, but not so large you’d go unnoticed if you were contributing to fifty percent of their murder rate. So Myles likes it when we travel. You’re going to have to learn to get through security with this sort of thing.”

She unzipped it and looked inside. There was a dismantled gun inside, made of some kind of resin material. “What is this?”

“It’s a throwaway. You use it once and then destroy it. Consider it a welcome-to-the-fold present. Come on. We don’t have much time to get across town.”

The rain had tapered off while they were upstairs, but it was still sprinkling enough to get them wet on the way to the car. Echo kept her head down and her shoulders hunched, but Joss ignored the downpour as she unlocked the car and folded herself behind the wheel. She had just started the car when her cell phone chimed with an incoming call, and she waited until she was on the main road to fish it out. It wasn’t until she’d opened it that she realized it was her personal phone, not the one Myles had provided. The call was from Colin.

“Shit. Stay quiet.” She accepted the call and flipped her hair away from her ear. “Hey, sweetheart.”

“Hey. Listen, I know you’re coming back on Saturday, I just wanted to be sure you remembered.”

She kept her eyes on the road. “Of course I remembered. I’m going to head home straight from the airport.”

“You have something ready?”

“I do.” She paused and searched for something else to say. “I’m glad you called. I was missing your voice.”

“Yeah?” He sounded skeptical.

“Of course. I know I’m not the best at expressing emotion. Sometimes I get... oh, I don’t know. Overwhelmed? I shrink away from you a lot, and it’s only because I’m not big on the physical displays, you know? I mean, there _are_ some physical displays I like a lot.”

Colin chuckled softly. “I’ve noticed.”

“When I get home, I’ll make it up to you.” She looked out the window, dreading the nights of ‘marital bliss’ she was setting herself up for. “I have to go. I’m about to pull up in front of the building. We’ll talk later.”

“Yeah. I just wanted to be sure you remembered. You remember how disappointed she was last time. Temper tantrums don’t get more attractive with age.”

“Definitely don’t want a repeat of that.”

“Okay. I’ll let you go. No cell phones while driving. Don’t want a cop to pull you over.”

 _You have no idea._ “Okay. Love you. Bye.” She hung up before she could hear him respond.

Echo said, “That was so surreal.”

“What was?”

“Your face. You sounded so animated and chipper, but your face never changed.”

Joss shrugged. “I have to play a part to protect myself. It’s easier on the phone.” She clicked onto her Reminders and handed the phone to Echo. “See what is listed for this Saturday.”

“It just says Madison, birthday.”

“Damn it.” The girl had been born ten months after their wedding, which meant that landmine was coming up in just a few more weeks. She took her phone back and stuffed it into the pocket of her jacket. She would deal with getting a gift later. They had arrived at the telemarketing offices where Robert Craig worked. While most businesses were ending their days, telemarketers were just beginning theirs. She saw only a few cars in the parking lot, but there was a steady stream of new arrivals. People who would, in a few minutes, start cold-calling unsuspecting people as they sat down to dinner.

Joss settled in for a long wait. Echo fidgeted at first but soon found a comfortable spot and folded her hands in her lap.

“Think you can do it again?”

“Do...?”

“Kill someone. Your shrink was basically just a crime of passion. You were operating out of self-preservation. This sort of thing is different.”

Echo took a deep breath and thought about the question. Joss was glad to see her taking it seriously; if she’d simply said yes immediately Joss would never have believed her. Finally she nodded slowly and lifted her head.

“Yes. Before, just fantasizing about it, imagining how I would hurt people? It was enough to take the edge off. But now that I’ve actually done it, I know I’ll need more. I don’t think I can kill someone. I know that sooner or later I’ll have to.”

Joss smiled slightly. “Good answer.”

After close to ten minutes of waiting, a tan Volvo pulled into the parking lot. It matched the make and model of the car in Robert Craig’s dossier, and Joss became alert as it rolled to a stop nearby. Craig hauled his hefty bulk out of the car, draped his tie over his gut, and reached back into the car for a briefcase. He seemed to be wearing the same suit as in the reference picture Joss had been provided, and he tucked his jacket up over his head as he shuffled across the parking lot to the front door.

“That’s our target?” Echo said.

“Yep. We may wait the three days to see if a heart attack does the job for us.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Joss grinned. A girl after her own heart. She settled in to wait. Echo seemed anxious but soon relaxed, settling against her seat and watching the rain spatter on the windshield. It wasn’t coming down hard enough to obscure their view, but their breathing quickly made the windows turn opaque. Joss rolled her window down a crack and ignored the occasional droplet that landed on her hand or arm. She thought about the girl sitting silently next to her, and the ghost Myles had brought up at the airport. Greta Bannister, the woman who had trained her in the arts of killing.

Greta didn’t have a permanent home. She didn’t have ties, and she could only be reached through a series of PO boxes throughout the country. “I fought email for a long time,” she said once, “but damned if it didn’t change every fucking thing for the better.” She was in her late forties when Joss met her, and she had been intimidated by the powerful aura the woman exuded. She taught Joss the importance of training herself. To run, to learn how to fight, to stay in shape.

“I’m not going to beat them to death,” Joss said after a workout, panting on the stairs of Greta’s current abode. “I’m going to use weapons.”

“And if they’re waiting for you? If they get the drop on you and knock the gun out of your hand? What will you do then? Call a time-out? Ask them to play fair? In my experience, people who have an assassin sent after them, more often than not, they know what they’ve done. It’s rarely something that comes out of the blue. So if they’re expecting you, you have to anticipate them. If you find yourself in a situation with a target and you’re unarmed, what are you going to do? Pass up a golden opportunity to complete the job, or get your hands dirty? Now get up. I know you’re tired, but we’re going to keep practicing until you’re half-dead.”

They had worked together for two years. Joss followed Greta on assignments, dealing with the cleanup and watching how she operated. She’d never imagined the roles being reversed, never saw herself in Greta’s position as mentor. She supposed the time was nigh, however. She was a few years younger than Greta had been, but she humbly felt that she was just as skilled. It seemed natural that Myles would want her passing her knowledge on to the next generation.

After an hour during which no one came in or out of the building, Joss decided it was time to eat. She looked around the general area and spotted several fast-food restaurants with their signs shining like lighthouses in the stormy twilight. “I’m going to grab us something to eat. What’s your preference?”

“Salad. Chicken, if they have it.”

“I’ll be right back. Keep your eye on that building.”

Echo nodded, and Joss got out of the car. She turned her collar up against the drizzle and walked toward the nearest restaurant. Between it and the office park, there was a strip mall that housed, among other things, a stationary store. She thought about Colin’s reminder and changed direction at the last minute. The lights were on and, according to the front door, she had twenty minutes before closing. She stepped inside and took a moment to drip on their mat. Soft music was playing from speakers overhead, and a crane-like woman with piles of red hair was standing behind the counter.

“We close in twenty minutes,” she said cheerfully.

“I’ll be quick,” Joss promised.

The aisles were helpfully marked, each section separated for birthdays, weddings, graduations, and anniversaries. She picked an anniversary card and a birthday card, then took a second one of each. She wandered toward the back of the store where she couldn’t be seen and nudged aside a display of creepy statuettes so she could have a place to write. She opened both birthday cards and took a pen out of her pocket. One simply said “Happy birthday!” while the other had a more elaborate message pre-printed. Joss uncapped her pen and began copying the message into the more succinct card.

“To my wonderful daughter. Every day you inspire and amaze me with the beautiful young woman you are becoming. My daughter, my joy, my happiness. I love you.” 

She signed “XOX Mom” at the bottom, and then opened the anniversary cards. Again, one was almost blank while the other had a poem. Joss copied it out, added her signature at the bottom, and then returned the cards she had copied to the shelf. She had learned the trick on the girl’s sixth birthday when she nearly gave Madison a card that said “You play soccer very well - Mom.” Colin had been horrified at the coldness of it, but Joss couldn’t understand what was wrong with paying the girl a compliment. In the end she gave her a new card, this one with a rewritten message approved by Colin. 

“Did you find everything you needed?” the clerk asked when she put the cards on the counter.

“Yes, thank you.”

She ignored the clerk’s attempts at further communication as she paid for her cards, folding the bag over to protect them from the rain. She stuck the bag in her pocket and continued to the restaurant. She bought a chicken salad for Echo, two large orders of fries for herself, and two diet sodas. She took them back to the car where Echo was watching the front door of the building.

“Anything to report?”

“No one came in or out while you were gone. Thank you.” She set the salad on her lap and snapped off the plastic lid. She poured in the dressing and used her fork to mix around the leaves before taking her first bite. “Is it like this often?” she eventually asked. “Just boring, sitting in cars?”

“More often than not. The actual job only takes a few seconds when done right. Everything else is making damn sure you don’t get caught. Take your time and don’t rush. People are fragile and very easily broken. The artistry comes with not being seen, getting away, remaining completely unknown.”

They continued eating in silence. According to the information from Myles, business hours were only from four in the afternoon until nine-thirty. When they finished their meals Echo glanced around the rain-slick parking lot and then looked at Joss until she gave in and met her gaze.

“Are we just going to sit here for another three and a half-hours?”

“Yes.” She looked out the window again. “Do you have anything better to be doing?” Echo didn’t answer and Joss didn’t press. After a few minutes Joss took pity on her. “It’s not always like this. He’s at work so we sit outside his work and we wait. If we’d arrived a little earlier in the day we would be sitting down the street from his home. If it was the weekend we would most likely be driving all over the city.” She would have preferred to have a partner in that event. They would be able to switch cars easily to make it less likely he’d notice the tail.

“I suppose.”

“This is a job of moments. We don’t torture, we don’t imprison or take ransom. We’re here to do a single thing, and that takes seconds to accomplish. I like to take three or four days just to familiarize myself with the terrain and the area. I don’t want to be stuck with no exit strategy. So I plan, I plot, and I get out. That’s how I’ve survived this long.”

Echo said, “How...” She paused. “How many people have you killed?”

“Ninety-two.”

“Wow.”

Joss shrugged. “It’s just a number.”

“Can I ask who was on the phone earlier?”

Joss almost said no, but decided it couldn’t do any harm. “My husband.”

“You’re married?”

“There’s a man who acts as a cover in my real-life, yes. I thought it would invite too many questions if I was a single woman. I had to blend in with the rest of the suburban households and that required a husband and children.”

Echo seemed startled. “Children?”

“Two. A boy and a girl. Madison and Thomas.”

“Oh. I guess I just never thought about having a family in this line of work.”

“I don’t. At home, I go by a different name. And no, I won’t tell you what it is for the same reason I didn’t want to know your real name. I wear a mask of banality. I hide.” She looked at Echo. “You don’t have to do the same. We all have our ways of putting aside our job when we go home. Myles once told me that he was a librarian in his hometown. Makes his own hours, gives him the opportunity to fly out and give us assignments. No one ever suspects the bookish, quiet guy.”

Echo said, “He mentioned that. Pretty women and schlubbish men.”

Joss doubted he had used the word ‘schlubbish,’ but she didn’t press. “You find what you need to blend into the scenery. You find ways to interact with people you have very little in common with. Death and murder are abstract concepts to most people. They don’t see it on a regular basis, except for sanitized TV versions. We exist in an abnormal acre of the world.”

Echo considered that for a long moment. “Yeah. I guess so.” She looked at her watch again. “If you want to take a catnap, I would wake you up whenever something happens.”

“No thanks. I don’t like napping. But if you want to nap, I’ll do my best to keep quiet.”

“Are you sure?”

Joss stopped short of saying that she didn’t need or want a partner, that she was accustomed to working alone, and simply nodded. Echo slid down in the seat a bit and assumed a more comfortable position. She folded her arms over her chest and rolled her head back. Within minutes she was asleep, and Joss found herself watching her uninvited partner more than the building. There was a slight spread of freckles across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes. She looked so damn young... maybe Madison’s age? No, she couldn’t possibly be that young. But she did talk about her parents a lot. College. She was having problems in college. So she was at least eighteen.

Still, she was very young. Joss wasn’t sure she was capable of teaching the girl, being a mentor the way Greta had been for her. She closed her eyes and imagined Greta the way she’d been just before she went out on her own. A hotel room, Greta’s home for that week. Joss was in a chair by the window, dressed in a sleeveless shirt and tight black jeans. Her hair was slicked back and she was sore from running. She was also sweaty, desperate for a shower, but she wanted to relax for a few minutes. Greta was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed in front of her, dragging on a cigarette. Her dark hair was wild, and she wore tight black jeans and a flowing purple top.

The moment was real, but they hadn’t actually spoken during the meeting. Joss sometimes used the blank spots to ask questions or run things past her lost mentor so she could get Greta’s opinion on them. Now she asked, “What would you do?”

“If I thought she wasn’t ready?” She lifted a shoulder and watched a plume of smoke rise in front of her. “I’d pull out that knife strapped to your leg and end it. Wipe down the car, walk back to the hotel to get your shit, and get on the next plane home.”

“What about the assignment?”

“Screw the assignment. You have a more pressing problem if you think this girl will be a problem. If you think she’ll screw up, or if you think she’ll get caught and turn on the organization... save everyone some trouble and take her out right now.”

Joss reached down and lifted her pant leg. She removed the knife and held it out, the blade reflecting lights from outside the car as she extended it across to hold it in front of Echo’s throat.

In her mind she asked, “Why didn’t you consider this with me? Was I just a prodigy?”

Greta exhaled a white cloud, smiling with her eyes half-closed. “Babydoll, I was going to kill you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I thought you were some silly college girl who had killed on the spur of the moment. I didn’t think you could handle the pressures of the job. But I thought I’d be fair and I gave you seven days. As it turns out, you proved yourself to me before it became necessary.”

Joss turned the knife and examined the blade’s keen edge. 

“If you thought I’d be a disappointment, why didn’t you just kill me when I showed up on your doorstep and save yourself some trouble?”

Greta smiled with her eyes closed and said something that she’d repeated so often Joss could almost hear it spoken in the car. It was a tenet that she had taken for herself when she went solo.

“Baby, I don’t kill for free.”

Joss lowered the knife and returned it to the sheath. 

Greta gave her seven days. She supposed she could give Echo three.


	4. Chapter 4

As the time inched closer to nine-thirty, people started emerging from the building. First they came in pairs, and soon clusters would form in the doorway as coworkers said their farewells or made plans to meet up at local bars. Joss waited until the parking lot was mostly empty before she nudged Echo to wake her. The girl had been sleeping soundly and snorted when she woke, straightening as she looked around the car in an attempt to figure out where she was. Joss nodded toward the front of the building as the last few stragglers came out.

“Looks like our guy is last to leave.”

“Oh.”

“This is an opportunity. I know I said we’d do nothing today, but it would be stupid to let a golden moment pass.” She opened her bag and took out her gun, occasionally looking toward the building to make sure Robert Craig wasn’t on his way out. She leaned forward to tuck the gun into the waistband of her jeans and opened the car door. The night air was cold and carried the smell of the earlier rainfall. Puddles had formed on the asphalt and Joss motioned for Echo to follow her as she crossed to the building. She glanced through the glass front doors and saw a security station, but it was dark and seemed abandoned. She paused to put on a pair of gloves that would prevent her from leaving fingerprints, turning to make sure Echo was doing the same thing. The front door was unlocked and she held it open for Echo before following her inside.

There was a building directory next to the elevators that revealed Direct Sales, Incorporated, was on the third floor. The main lights were off in the stairwells, as they were in the rest of the building, and Joss led the way up in a spooky half-darkness that left them both shrouded. On the third floor landing Joss waited for Echo to join her and loaded her weapon. “Stay close to the stairwell door, but keep me in sight. If you hear anything, if you see anything, let me know. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Joss.”

Echo nodded, and Joss slipped out into the main room. A sea of dark cubicles stood between her and the back wall, where Robert Craig sat in the only lit space. His office was fronted by two wide windows on either side of an open door. The blinds were drawn, but she could still see him sitting behind the desk with his head in his hands. She stayed low, passing by the blindly-staring faces of dormant computer screens left on stand-by. Her footsteps were soft on the carpet as she moved on the balls of her feet, gun by her side so that it wouldn’t be instantly noticeable in silhouette.

The office door was open, and Joss crouched next to the last cubicle wall to assess the situation. He would see her as soon as she stepped into the rectangle of light. She would either have to fire immediately and risk missing, or figure out a way to keep him seated while she made her approach. She ran her thumb over the grip of her gun and considered the options. She decided on a casual encounter, making conversation that would put him at ease until she was comfortable making her move.

She stood and, making sure the gun was out of sight stepped toward the office. She was opening her mouth to announce her presence when several things happened at once.

Craig glanced up and, seeing her by the light spilling from his office, grabbed something she hadn’t seen off his desk. He brought the gun up and shouted incoherently as he fired into the darkness. Joss was moving as soon as he reached for the weapon, so the bullet zipped harmlessly out into the office. She heard something break in the mid-distance as she hit the floor and clenched her teeth.

She fucking hated getting shot at.

He was speaking, but she only heard a few choice phrases - “Didn’t expect that, did you motherfucker? Who’s running now?” - because her mind was racing through the options at speeds too quick for her to officially process before she settled on what she thought was the best course of action. She closed her eyes and screamed hysterically.

“I’m sorry! God, I’m sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry! I saw your light on! I locked my keys in my car! Please, please, please, don’t hurt me!”

“Fuck!” Robert Craig gasped. “Are you okay?” She heard his chair creak as he heaved himself out of his chair, huffing as he rounded the desk as fast as he could move. Joss got onto her hands and knees and pushed herself up as he came rushing through the door to see if she had been hit. The moment he darkened the doorway she brought the gun up and smacked him in the face with the butt of the weapon. He rocked back on his heels and Joss shoved him, knocking him onto his butt before she pressed the gun against the slope of his forehead.

He squeezed his eyes shut, both hands up to show he wasn’t carrying his weapon, and he began to blubber. “Please! Don’t do this! I have a family! I have a wife, my daughter...”

Joss’ finger relaxed on the trigger. “How old?”

He opened his eyes a crack and then closed them again. “Seventeen?”

“What did you get her for her sixteenth birthday?” He didn’t answer. “I know she’d want a car if she had her way, but I don’t want to spoil her. But it would give her a sense of freedom. Did you get your daughter a car?”

“Uh. W-we, uh, we got her an iPhone.”

Joss considered it for a moment. She didn’t think Madison already had one. She had so many damn electronics, though, and she didn’t want to get a useless hung of junk. Still, it was something to consider. She would have to stop by the Apple store on the way home.

“Thanks,” she said.

She pulled the trigger and Robert Craig’s bulk fell backward onto his gray carpet.

#

Joss could tell it was coming, but she was proud of Echo for holding up until they were in the lobby. She ducked behind the security desk, took the plastic bag out of the trash can, and handed it over. Echo threw up as soon as they were outside, wrapping her fingers around the neck one-handed like an air-sick bag as she hunched her shoulders. Joss ignored her and walked briskly to her car, leaving Echo to catch up. She was still carrying the trash bag, and Joss tied it off and put it in the trunk until she could dispose of it properly. Echo wiped the back of her hand across her lips and got into the passenger seat.

“Sorry.”

“It happens. The important thing is that you didn’t contaminate the scene.”

Echo looked at the building. “The security cameras...”

“They’re down.”

“How can you be sure? If we’re on tape...”

“The information packet said that we were safe staking out the building because their security systems have been shut down during a company strike. The only security they’ve had in the past three weeks is the man who sits at the desk and pretends to study live video feeds so the people who work here will feel safe. We’ll be fine.”

“I can’t believe you just... shot him like that.”

Joss looked over at her. “Rethinking your career?”

Echo shook her head. “No. It was...” She narrowed her eyes. “I wish I could have been you. You were amazing.”

“It was your first time acting as witness. You’ll get used to it in time.” She took out her phone and sent a message to Myles. “Finished work early. Heading home soon.”

Echo watched her typing. “So we’re not staying the full three days?”

“Unless you can think of a reason to stick around a crime scene. People will find his body tomorrow, if we’re lucky, or tonight if there’s a cleaning crew. I’d prefer to put distance between us and any investigation. We’ll get some rest at the hotel tonight and then go home in the morning. Did you make arrangements to fly out on Saturday?” Echo nodded. “We can change your itinerary. It’s no problem.”

Her phone chimed with a reply from Myles. “Any problems?”

“Everything’s going well. Flying out tomorrow. Need to make arrangements, re: echo.”

“???”

She realized that he didn’t know the name she’d chosen for the woman he referred to as Miss Barrett. “Travel arrangements for my associate.”

“Aha. They’ll be waiting. Will notify you in the morning.”

She closed the phone and started the car. “We’re set.”

When they were back on the road, Echo said, “Why did you ask him about his daughter’s birthday present?”

“I need a present for my daughter. Saturday is her birthday.”

“You’re a mother?”

“All part of the disguise.”

They drove back to the hotel in perfect silence. The lobby was empty, and Joss took the opportunity to stuff the trash bag with Echo’s ‘deposit’ in one of the trash cans far from the entrance. A young man was in the elevator when it arrived, but they went the rest of the way to their room without encountering another soul. Joss offered Echo the first shower and turned the news on mute to see if there was any mention of Robert Craig’s murder. When Echo came out of the bathroom she was in one of the hotel robes, her hair wet, and she sheepishly stopped just short of the bed. 

“I left you some hot water.”

Joss stood. “I’ll leave the door open. Call out if they have anything about the thing.”

Echo nodded and Joss passed her. She undressed and pushed the curtain aside, testing the water before she got under the spray. She took quick showers, a matter of convenience and necessity both in the field and at home. She had just turned off the water when Echo told her the anchor had mentioned something about breaking news. Joss put a towel around herself and went out just as Echo unmuted the television. 

A somber woman in an incongruous bright yellow jacket spoke directly to the camera. “Police are responding to reports that a dead body was found by cleaning crews at the offices of Direct Sales, Incorporated. We don’t know much more at this point, but we’ll be sure to bring you more information as this story develops.”

“Cleaning crew,” Joss said.

Echo looked at her, momentarily distracted by the sight of Joss’ bare shoulders and legs. “Does that change anything?”

“No. The body was meant to be found. It serves as proof I completed the job.” She looked at her watch and did some quick calculations. The person who set the contract would most likely hear about the report within five minutes. At that point they would call or text Myles, however they got in touch, and the balance of the payment would be exchanged. Depending on how long the client took getting the money together, Myles’ call could be anywhere from five minutes to ten hours away. “We should get some sleep. You did well today. Truly.”

“Thank you. Do you think I have what it takes to do this?”

“No. But I think you’ll get there soon enough.”

Echo nodded and then stood. She turned her back and put on her underwear with the robe still on, taking it off only to quickly squirm into an undershirt. Joss didn’t bother with pajamas but kept the towel around herself out of deference to Echo’s modesty. The weatherman assured her that the storms were moving out of the area and their travel plans for the morning shouldn’t be affected. She considered calling home to let Colin know she was coming back early but she thought better of it. She turned off the television and overhead light, then climbed under the blankets of her own bed.

“Joss? What happens after tomorrow? Will I ever see you again?”

She considered saying no. She would just have to tell Myles that it hadn’t worked out and pass the girl off to the next employee down the line. Something in her rebelled at the idea. The organization needed all the talent it could get, and Echo certainly had potential to be a great assassin. She knew when to shut up and stay out of the way, and she knew when to offer help. Joss didn’t feel right forcing her to start over with someone else.

“Yes. You’ll see me again. Probably on my next assignment.”

“Good. I enjoyed this evening.”

Joss closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. It hadn’t been her intention to kill Robert Craig, but the opportunity had been so perfect, so pristine, that it would have been sloppy and unprofessional not to take it. Their client took the trouble to make sure all eyes were off, and the rest was just happy coincidence. Or maybe she’d had a good luck charm on her side. Maybe Echo’s presence had... no. That was superstition and nonsense. She had no truck in such things. Still, it was worth exploring to see if the phenomenon repeated itself.

There was a quiet gasp from the next bed and Joss glanced over. Echo had the blankets pulled up almost over her head, legs bent to make a tent. It became clear after a few seconds that the girl was masturbating, and Joss watched as the mattress swayed gently under her ministrations. It was the natural progression of emotions after seeing someone die; from shock and horror to a need to prove she was still alive. Joss had felt the same thing the first few times, and she often tried to commemorate a successful assignment by getting laid.

Echo was quiet for the most part until the end, when she announced her climax with a series of short, sharp exhales. Joss waited until she relaxed and then turned away to look up at the ceiling.

“We’ll part ways at the airport. You’ll return the rental car after we make sure we’ve cleared it of anything incriminating. Then I’ll let Myles know you did well and he’ll send your cut of the money.”

There was a long silence from the other bed, embarrassment at being overheard, but finally Echo said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You earned it. Goodnight, Echo.”

“Night.”

Joss draped one hand across her chest, the other resting palm-up on the mattress next to her, and closed her eyes. Her dreams were, as always, quiet and dark affairs that she didn’t remember upon waking. She remembered Robert Craig’s face as he mentioned his daughter, the burgeoning hope that maybe the conversation meant that she would spare his life. She felt no guilt for misleading him; she was mostly irritated that she still had no idea what she was going to get Madison for her birthday.

#

In the morning Myles called while Echo was downstairs getting their complimentary breakfast. He told her the client was so pleased with the expediency of their resolution that he paid a ten percent bonus. The money would be transferred to Joss’ account within three to five days. She made sure Echo was awarded thirty-percent of the complete take, a figure that Myles thought overly generous but deferred to her judgment. 

They drove to the airport together and Joss helped her wipe down the car. There was always a chance the car would be identified from other security cameras or might have been spotted at the scene. It was a white mid-range sedan, hardly unique in the world. She didn’t take risks, however, and she cleaned every surface she might have touched or left behind forensic evidence. She waited for Echo to turn the car in, then walked with her into the terminal.

“This is where we part ways. I don’t want to know where you’re going, and I don’t want you to know where I’m going. That will come with time. You did well, Echo.”

“Thank you, Joss.”

“I suppose you could choose your own name now. I wouldn’t recommend your real name, but it’s only fair that you pick what I call you.”

Echo chewed her bottom lip and then shrugged. “I kind of like Echo, if it’s all right with you.”

“Okay.” She held out her hand. “Until the next job, Echo.”

“See you then.”

They shook hands and parted company. When Joss was in line at security, she watched the other passengers waiting to pass through the metal detector and saw a woman wearing something that reminded her of a conversation from a few months earlier. An argument, really, that had been forgotten almost as soon as it was finished. The bone of contention came down to money more than anything else. Joss had more than enough, but she tried to keep Jocelyn Webb’s funds at a believable level. Her husband was a struggling writer which meant they had to at least appear to struggle with their monthly bills. But for a birthday, especially a sweet-sixteen, it could be excused.

She surrendered her carry-on to the conveyer and passed under the arch to be scanned. The TSA agent waved her to the side with a bored expression, and she realized she had been chosen at random for a more thorough check. She accepted the inconvenience with a smile.

She had nothing to hide.


	5. Chapter 5

Joss arrived back in Pierre a little after one in the afternoon. She found a bathroom and changed out of her clothes, removing even her underwear and replacing it with a near identical set. She chose a pastel-pink blouse from her bag and a pair of tan slacks, traded her high heels for a pair of sensible flats, and spent a few minutes restyling her hair in the mirror. When she was finished she was once again Jocelyn Webb. 

She bought a paperback novel from the airport shop to enforce the story that she had spent her free time on the trip reading. She would concoct a story about an extremely speedy mediation with cooperative participants who made her job a breeze. Colin wasn’t likely to ask many questions, but she liked to have a lie prepared before she was asked to account for her time. She retrieved her bags and left the airport. Hopefully since she’d only been gone for a day Colin wouldn’t feel the need to urge her into ‘welcome home’ sex, but he’d been known to take lesser excuses to get her into bed.

As she pulled onto her street, she was so wrapped up in a fear Colin would try to undress her as soon as she walked in the door (“Come on... kids are at school, why not get to know each other a little better?”) that she almost didn’t notice the truck parked in their driveway. She continued on past the house and turned onto a side street. She parked in a stranger’s driveway and angled her mirrors so she could see the front of their house in the reflection.

She didn’t have to wait long. Within ten minutes of parking, the front door opened and a redhead came outside. She was wearing jeans tucked into cowboy boots and a shirt unbuttoned to reveal a tank top that displayed impressively deep cleavage. Colin came out behind her and she turned to say something to him. They spoke briefly, the redhead laughed and touched his arm, then she walked to her truck. Jocelyn watched Colin watch his guest leave. The reflection was too small to tell, but she was fairly certain his eyes were locked on her ass the entire time.

Colin waved once more as the truck pulled out of their driveway, then went back inside. Jocelyn started her car and backed out of the driveway. She knew how to tail someone without them realizing it, and she employed all of her tactics on the brand-new Toyota Tacoma. It was easy enough to keep her distance when they were on the main roads, but she had to get crafty once they entered another neighborhood. She took side streets, watching for the truck on intersections and scanning driveways to make sure it hadn’t pulled in anywhere when she drove by.

Finally she spotted the truck parked on the street outside of a brick ranch-style house. Her driveway was occupied by a small sporty car that looked like it had seen better days and a Jet Ski covered with a blue tarp. The car had chocks behind the tires to keep it from rolling back into the street. Jocelyn parked at the end of the street and watched the redhead walk across the lawn to the front door. She had to admit the woman had a nice ass; she couldn’t blame Colin for ogling it.

She made a note of the woman’s address on her phone and then drove out of the neighborhood. She retraced the route home and parked in the spot the redhead had left vacant. She acted normally as she took her bags out of the back, giving away nothing as she walked to the front door and let herself in. It was still a while before the kids were expected home, so Colin came out of the little nook where he did his writing and stopped in the hallway when he saw her. He was wearing boxers and a T-shirt, although that wasn’t evidence that he’d been screwing someone. It was his standard writing uniform, despite her constant efforts to try changing the habit.

“Jocelyn. I thought you weren’t getting home until Saturday.”

“It was an easy one. Hi.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek, patting his chest as she continued past him into the kitchen. “I’m starving. They gave us a little lunch on the plane but you know I hate that pre-packaged shit.”

“Uh. I think you have a couple of yogurts left.”

“That would hit the spot.” She opened the fridge and took out a container. She spun on her heel and took a spoon out of the drawer. When she peeled back the lid, she looked at Colin and tilted her head to the side. “You okay? You look weird.”

He in fact looked petrified. His face was pale and his eyes were far too wide. Even if she hadn’t seen the redhead, she would have known something was up. She knew about every affair he’d ever had in their seventeen years, but she’d never brought it up. There would be a day when she needed to twist a knife, and she was keeping that particular grenade tucked into her pocket for the moment it would do the most damage.

“I’m glad you had a nice trip.”

“Mm.” She worked the mouthful of yogurt around with her tongue, remembering the woman she’d screwed on the flight out. She thought about Echo, overhearing her masturbation session, and smiled. “Yeah. It was a pretty good trip when all was said and done. How about you? Did you keep yourself occupied while I was away?”

He smiled nervously. “Oh, you know. Did what I could.”

“I want to hear all about it, but first I’m going to take a shower to wash the plane off of me. I’ve been thinking about what to get Madison for her birthday, and I think I have an idea. It’s a little expensive, but we’ll manage.”

“It’s not a car is it?”

“No, dear. I’ll tell you all about it when I get out of the shower.” She kissed him as she passed, then reached down and rubbed the front of his boxers. “Maybe you could join me.”

He chuckled. “Uh.”

She raised an eyebrow and waited for his excuse. Normally he would have jumped her before she’d finished the invitation. But now, poor baby, he was coming off - pun intended - an all-day marathon with his mistress and he needed some time to recover. He twisted away from her touch and stroked her arm as he escaped.

“I think you probably want to rest more than anything, right?”

“Are you sure, baby?”

“Yeah. Shower, rest... I’ll take a rain check, though.”

Jocelyn shrugged. “If you say so.” She left the kitchen and smiled to herself as she finished the yogurt. She would get credit for trying, and for once he had been the one to refuse her. That ought to keep him from bitching about how they never had sex. For a few days, at least. She disposed of the container in the bathroom trash and undressed for the shower.

It was turning into a pretty great day for her, all things considered.

#

Jocelyn checked the pantry and the freezer in the garage, then began preparing dinner. The meat needed time to defrost, so she offered to pick Madison up from school if Colin would take care of the boy. Colin agreed and then said he was going upstairs for a bit. Soon thereafter she heard the sound of the shower starting up. She smiled at his attempts to remain undiscovered, imagined him sagging against the tile wall and shuddering at how close it had come to crashing down around his head. She could have taken pity on him, casually dropped the fact that she knew all about the redhead in the truck, and the blonde aerobics nut before her, and the brunette divorcee with two kids of her own. But what was the point of letting him have affairs if she didn’t get something out of the deal?

She drove to the high school and sent Madison a text to let her know she was there. The bell rang and kids began swarming out through different exits. Groups of them got into cars, boys and girls lingered between cars, and a few teachers began roaming just to make sure everything went smoothly. Jocelyn watched the children - none of them could be older than eighteen - scurry around with their playacting impression of grownups. A few of them exchanged items furtively, looking around to make sure they were unobserved before performing bizarrely ornate hand signals with one another before they parted.

A brunette girl with blonde highlights broke away from the crowd and started toward her car. Jocelyn saw her out of the corner of her eye and then realized with a start that it was her daughter. She lacked that empathic bond, the connection that should have told her that her offspring was near. She’d never felt particularly close to either of her children, but sometimes it irritated her that she was so cut off from what should have been a basic human emotion.

Sometimes she thought there was something sincerely wrong with her brain. But if it made her good at her job, she wasn’t going to complain.

Madison tossed her bag into the backseat with her purse and then got into the passenger seat. “Hey! Daddy said you were in New Jersey until tomorrow.”

“I came home early for your birthday, kiddo.” She tried to make herself sound chipper to compensate for not recognizing her earlier.

Madison reached up and twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “I was going to wash this out before you got home, I swear. Daddy said it was okay, since tomorrow’s my birthday and all.”

 _She changed her hair. That’s why you didn’t recognize her._ Jocelyn reached over and stroked the girl’s hair. “It looks lovely. It suits you. You don’t have to wash it out if you don’t want to.”

“Really?”

“Sure. It’s just hair.”

Madison smiled and looked at herself in the rearview mirror. Jocelyn waited until the traffic cleared up before she backed out of the spot. She turned left out of the parking lot, and she had passed the final intersection toward home before Madison looked up from her phone. She looked out the window to confirm they were going the wrong way and then flipped her hair to look at her mother.

“Where we going?”

“I thought I’d let you pick out your birthday present. I had something in mind, but you should pick the specifics.”

Madison grinned. “Like color? Horsepower?”

Jocelyn’s mood soured. “Don’t be greedy.”

“I was only joking.”

Jocelyn ignored her and drove on. They arrived at the mall and Madison followed her into the building. The entrance led directly into a large department store, and Jocelyn took a moment to find the proper section. She heard Madison whisper, “Oh, my gosh,” as she realized where they were going, and then turned to see her smiling when they reached their destination. Madison looked at her, eyes wide, and said, “Really?”

Jocelyn nodded and looked at the rack of leather jackets. “You made a good argument last time you asked for one. I thought it was time.”

Madison lifted the sleeve of one jacket and ran her thumb over the material. She looked at the price and then looked at the rest of the options. “Everything is so expensive.”

“Everything is on the table. Don’t even look at the price tag. Get whichever one you want.”

“Seriously?”

Jocelyn smiled and touched Madison’s head again. “Sure. You’ve had a good year. You’re sixteen tomorrow. You should look nice.”

Madison went through the jackets, systematically separating them into “maybe” and “not likely” before finding the “definitely possibly” area. She picked one jacket and stared at it with a reverence that told Jocelyn she was in love. She made her way over and saw that the price tag was just north of three hundred dollars. A Michael Kors, which meant she was paying for the name more than the jacket. But Madison was definitely in love with the jacket. Jocelyn doubted she even knew who Michael Kors was.

“Try it on.”

“No. If I see myself in it, I’ll never get over not having it.”

“Then try it on to make sure it fits, and then we’ll go buy it.”

Madison looked at her as if she was playing a mean joke. “It’s three hundred dollars.”

“No. It’s free.” Jocelyn adjusted the collar and patted the girl’s shoulders. “It’s a birthday present. If that’s the one you want, then I don’t give a shit how much it costs.”

Madison looked down at the jacket again. “It’s gorgeous.”

Jocelyn took the jacket off the hanger, guided Madison to the mirror, and held it out for her. Madison slipped her arms into the sleeves and shrugged it on, and Jocelyn flipped her hair out over the collar. Madison turned to one side, then the other, and pinched the lapels. 

“It’s so awesome.”

“So is that the one you want?”

Madison bit her bottom lip and finally allowed herself to nod. “Yeah. This one.”

Jocelyn smiled. “Good. Happy birthday. Come on. Let’s go make it official.”

Madison hugged the jacket the entire time they were in line. As soon as they were outside Jocelyn took the jacket out, cut off the tags, and helped Madison put it on. The temperature was still in the mid-seventies, but the jacket was more fashion statement than anything else. Once she had it on, Madison embraced her and squeezed tightly.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

When they got home Colin was in the kitchen taking over dinner duties. He looked up as they walked in and then did a double-take at Madison’s jacket.

“Whoa! Fashion star. Where’d you get something like that?”

“Mom got it for my birthday. Isn’t it amazing?” She struck out her hip and posed, using one hand to turn up the collar with a grin.

Colin smiled. “Looking sharp! Looks like you had a happy birthday.”

“Uh-huh.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Daddy. I’m going to go get started on my homework.”

She trotted out, pausing in the living room to heckle her brother as he played video games. Colin waited until she was out of earshot before he turned to Jocelyn.

“How the hell did we afford that?”

“We didn’t. I did.” She looked at the stove and deduced how much time was left until dinner. “If you want to spend some of your money to buy her a card or something, I’m sure she’d appreciate it just as much.”

“You can be a real bitch sometimes, Jocelyn. You know that?”

She ignored the comment and stepped around him, opening the fridge to take out a beer. “I’ll be on the computer. Let me know when dinner’s ready.”

She went into the den and shut the door. Her laptop was on the desk, but she put it aside. It was the computer with weak security and filled with recipes, random pictures from the past decade, and random things downloaded from the internet to make it look like a typical, boring device. Her real computer was in the bottom drawer of the desk behind a false back. It looked identical to the one she left out just in case anyone wandered in on her using it. She logged in and went to the news main page. She searched for news from Newark and quickly found the story about Robert Craig.

His body had been discovered by a cleaning crew a few hours after they left. According to police, his company was involved in several telemarketing fraud cases that swindled the gullible and the elderly. Somehow he’d been caught and was being pressured to cooperate with the DA and police by giving up the people he worked with. They caught wind of their “conversations” and, the police speculated, his partners had arranged for him to meet with an unfortunate end.

Jocelyn didn’t always investigate the “why” of her jobs, but sometimes curiosity got the best of her. She looked up Robert Craig and discovered he had a Facebook and a Twitter account. She furrowed her brow and scrolled through them. Madison had one, as did Colin. She didn’t understand why someone would want to stand on a street corner and announce their plans for the day, so what sense did it make to do the same thing on the internet? She admitted that with her life the internet wasn’t exactly her best friend, but she doubted it would make sense even if she was who she pretended to be.

She went to Myles’ site, hidden behind several firewalls, and typed a quick report about Echo’s performance. She knew that if she gave a poor review she wouldn’t be saddled with the tag-along again. She also knew that she would miss the girl on her next job if she wasn’t there. Very peculiar, but she supposed it made sense. Echo showed promise and seemed enamored with the job. With the right guidance she would be an excellent addition to the company, and Joss looked forward to sharing her knowledge with a new recruit.

“Mommy?”

She clicked over to Google as the door opened and Thomas pushed his head inside. She smiled. “Hello.”

“Daddy said dinner is almost ready.”

“Thank you. I’ll be there in a moment.”

He walked around her desk, running his hand along the edge as if it was helping him stand. “What are you doing?” He dragged the last word out into several syllables, tilting his head so far to one side that it seemed like he was trying to listen to his shoulder. 

“I’m doing work. Shouldn’t you be helping Daddy with dinner?”

“He said to come get you.”

“Consider me retrieved. Go on now.”

“Are we going to have a party for Mad’son’s birthday?”

Jocelyn closed her eyes and envisioned picking the boy up by the scruff of his neck and hauling him out into the hall, ignoring his flailing legs and arms as she slammed the door behind him.

“Your sister is named Madison,” she said calmly. “And no. She’s going out with some friends. Why don’t you run along and occupy yourself with something, okay?”

“Okay. I love you, Mommy.”

“Okay,” Jocelyn said. She waited until he was gone before she switched back to her report.

“I look forward to working with Miss Barrett again if given the opportunity. She shows great potential to one day join our ranks as a solo associate.”

She sent the note off, locked her computer again, and stowed it in the drawer. Her decoy laptop went back on the desk, and she logged onto it long enough to leave the browser on a random page of entertainment news. She smoothed down her blouse and left the den, bracing herself for a dinner with her cover story.

#

Colin went to bed early claiming he was “beat,” which made Jocelyn wonder just what he and the redhead got up to when she wasn’t around. She waited until he was in the bedroom with the door closed before she returned to the den. She retrieved her secret computer and logged into a highly-illegal program she had that allowed her to look people up with their license plate numbers. She put in the redhead’s number and immediately got a hit. The information she was given, however, was more than a little disheartening.

Sergeant Shannon Molloy smiled out from her Academy picture, green eyes shining and red hair tucked up under a cap that shadowed her face. Everything else checked out. She was thirty-one, so he wasn’t exactly robbing the cradle, and she was recently divorced. Her Facebook page - another of the millions of drones, it seemed - was dedicated to the brand of watersports that didn’t require a parental filter. She had posted dozens of pictures of herself in one-piece swimsuits straddling the Jet Ski she’d seen in the driveway, along with multiple shots of her floating and squinting up into the sun to smile for the photographer.

Jocelyn wondered how many of the pictures had been taken by Colin. How many other pictures had Colin taken that were in a private folder somewhere, saved on one of their cell phones?

She leaned back in her chair and unbuttoned her pants, scrolling down to a picture of Shannon fresh out of the water. The curve of her flank, the way the swimsuit clung to her body like a second skin... Colin had definitely chosen well this time. She pushed her hand into her pants and wet her lips as she imagined holding the woman down, playing the part of a jealous lover. It would be different with a cop, someone trained in self-defense and offensive techniques, but that would only make victory sweeter. She imagined herself handcuffing sweet young Shannon to the headboard and then stripping off her uniform, kneeling between her legs...

Jocelyn came quickly, pressing her lips together to stifle her moans. She stretched her legs out under the desk, her toes curling, her shoulders hunched, and she opened her eyes to see Shannon smiling at her from the computer screen. Water from the lake had turned her hair dark red, and strings of it hung around her face. Jocelyn took her hand out of her pants and met the frozen stare of the other woman.

Usually she liked to mess with Colin’s girls, harass them a little bit. It was all in good fun, playing with their guilt over fooling around with a married man. He’d never fucked a cop before. A part of her knew that it was too close to the line and that toying with her would make her too vulnerable. But she could never resist a challenge.

She closed Shannon’s Facebook page after bookmarking it, then checked her email. A note from Myles was waiting.

“Miss Barrett (Echo? Whose idea was that?) is apparently a fan of yours as well. Glad you two hit it off. Will be in touch re: future employment opportunities. - M.”

She shut down the laptop and hid it again. She turned off the lights and went to the bedroom, where Colin was already snoring softly against his pillow. She stripped down completely in preparation of changing into her pajamas, but at the last moment she turned and stepped quietly back to the bedside. She stared down at her husband with the blank curiosity of someone examining an unknown sea creature that had washed up on the beach. If she’d looked in the mirror she would have recognized the pose as the one Thomas had struck when speaking to her earlier.

She held out her first two fingers, thumb extended, and took a moment to wonder - as she always did - how it had come to be the universal symbol of gun. No gun on Earth was triggered with the thumb in that position. Dropping her thumb only cocked the hammer in preparation of firing a lethal round. She extended her arm, fingers pointed at Colin’s face. His jaw was slack, lips parted to reveal his lower teeth, and his left hand rested on the pillow in front of his face like a half-hearted surrender.

Jocelyn dropped the hammer. A second later she curled her index finger downward and breathed, “Bang.”

Colin snored. Jocelyn walked away and put her hands in her hair, pushing it away from her face before she retrieved her pajamas. One day. Maybe one day soon, she would be able to walk away from Jocelyn Webb forever. But for the moment Colin Webb was still much too valuable as a cover for her to do anything to hurt him. She was just glad he’d found Shannon Molloy.

Everyone needed someone to love.


	6. Chapter 6

“Joce-LYN! Jocelyn!”

She turned from her staring contest with the gas pump readout to see Lois Keller shuffling across the parking lot toward her. She faced forward again to hide her disgust at the plump, overly-cheerful, and overly-intrusive PTA President’s attention. She insisted on stressing the last syllable of Jocelyn’s name, and no amount of corrections would break her of the habit. Jocelyn tightened her hand around the nozzle’s grip, envisioning how easy it would be to pull it free of the tank, turn, and douse Lois with it. She saw herself brandishing a cigarette lighter until the woman backed away and promised to never come within fifty yards of her ever again.

“Hi, Lois.” She squeezed in an even number, removed the nozzle, and returned it to the hook without giving the irritant a shower. “How are you?”

“I am sur-premely well, thank you for asking. And yourself? How is that wonderful husband of yours, and those darling children?”

 _My husband is fucking another woman. The kids are tolerable on good days._ She said, “They’re wonderful. Listen, not to be rude, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“Oh! I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to say that my Diane mentioned the birthday gift you got for your Madison a few weeks ago. That utterly beautiful leather jacket? Well, Diane has been cajoling and pestering her father and I ever since to get her one like it and well, you know, Christmas isn’t that very far away so I thought I would check it out and Jocelyn!” She lowered her voice. “That jacket cost over three hundred dollars!”

“I know. I’m the one who paid for it.”

Lois laughed incredulously. “Well! I mean, certainly you can see why that might be a little... inappropriate.”

Jocelyn stared at her.

“It’s so extravagant, Jocelyn. I think it’s a little too extravagant for school. You understand my problem with it, don’t you? The other girls become envious and poor Madison will be excluded.”

“Is she flaunting it?”

“No! Oh, no, she’s being a perfect young lady. It’s just how it looks.”

Jocelyn stepped closer to Lois, who was then forced to either look up into Jocelyn’s glasses or back up a step. She chose retreat.

“Let me tell you how it looks to me. It looks like you’re jealous of my daughter and want her to change to conform so your daughter can feel superior in some way. Diane already sniffs around my daughter like a sycophant, and I’m sure she wants the jacket just so she can be like Madison in another way. Diane will never be as athletic as my daughter. She will never be as pretty or as popular. And you, Lois, will never have the money I do. Don’t ask me to change to meet your lowered standards. If you feel inadequate, then change yourself. I’ve already made too many goddamn sacrifices, and I won’t make more just to make you more comfortable. Now get out of my way. As I said, I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

Lois stepped to one side and Jocelyn rounded the back of the car. She got behind the wheel and drove away. When she looked in her rearview mirror she saw Lois was still standing next to the pumps looking dazed and confused. Jocelyn didn’t have time to deal with the woman’s inferiority complex even if she wanted to. She was already running late.

It was Friday morning, and Colin thought she was on her way to work. The nature of her cover story meant that she didn’t have to go into the office if she didn’t feel like it, and this morning she had more important things to do with her time. She drove to Downs Marine and parked near the entrance. She checked the clock and waited patiently until a now-familiar blue Tacoma pulled in towing a Jet Ski on a trailer. It was the beginning of October and the warm weather had lingered long enough to allow for a few more days on the water. Jocelyn knew that Shannon Molloy wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation, and smiled when her deduction was proven correct.

Shannon wore a teal swimsuit under an unbuttoned blouse and jean shorts. Jocelyn ogled her for a moment as she prepared the Jet Ski to be lowered into the water, admiring her thighs and calves as she stretched and squatted. She didn’t have time to leer; she just wanted to confirm the officer’s presence before she proceeded with her true plans for the day. She started the truck and left the marina, driving across town to Shannon’s house.

She parked one street away, strategically placing her car between two driveways so it wasn’t clear which house she was allegedly visiting. She was dressed in a blue blouse and black jeans, a casual enough ensemble that didn’t look out of place in the suburban setting. The air hummed with the sound of lawn mowers pushed by people hoping it was their last mow of the season, and she crossed a front lawn with enough intent that anyone watching would assume she was meant to be there. She didn’t scale a fence, she simply lifted the latch and stepped into a stranger’s backyard.

Once she was out of sight of the street she put on a pair of gloves. She gripped the post with one hand, the top of the picket with the other, and placed her foot against the fence to push herself up. She peered over into Shannon Molloy’s yard and saw that it was vacant. Satisfied there was no one home, as she’d never seen another car in the driveway or noticed anyone else coming in or out of the house, she confidently went up and over. 

The grass needed to be cut and it brushed against Jocelyn’s shoes as she moved toward the back porch. A simple barrel grill was parked next to the back door, and a small picnic table was set up nearby so Shannon and her guests could enjoy the shade while they ate their burgers. Jocelyn wondered idly if Colin had ever sat there eating a meal his lover had made for him. Had the kids?

That thought brought her up short. Thomas was still young enough to fall for the lie that Shannon was just “Daddy’s friend.” But Madison would have known the truth. The “extravagant” birthday present would have bought her loyalty and she’d have mentioned something if she knew her father was sneaking around with some other woman.

Thus satisfied, she popped the lock on the back door. It was such second nature to her that she did it as easily as other people would use a key. Most citizens, even cops, put far too much faith in their locks. It was a security blanket that failed instantly in the face of a truly dedicated intruder. She closed the door behind her and took a moment to get acclimated to the atmosphere of the house. It had a distinct, pleasant smell that she tried to identify. It was vaguely wintery, artificial but not unpleasant. She breathed deeply as she moved out of the dining room, which had been transformed into a home office, and into the living space.

Framed photos stood in a row at eye-level on the bookshelf. They were similar to her Facebook photos - Shannon at the lake, in uniform, out with friends - but these had one notable difference: Colin appeared in a handful of them. Colin with her at the lake, bare shoulders glistening as he squinted at the photographer. Colin pressing his cheek against Shannon’s in some dark bar. She picked one up and looked at it, staring at her husband’s expression before she put it back.

The house was cavernous and quiet as she ventured down the back hallway. The first door opened on a guest room used more for storage, then a small and tidy bathroom, and finally the master bedroom. She wondered if there was another term for the room when it was occupied by a woman living alone. Mistress bedroom? That had unusual and awkward connotations. Regardless, she entered and stood on the threshold.

The curtains were a pale peach color and faced east, so the sun poured through and cast an almost-sepia hue over everything. She approached the nightstand and eyed the paperback novel sitting next to the alarm clock. One of Colin’s side girls had been reading Harry Potter, which disgusted her, and another had jumped on the Fifty Shades garbage. She didn’t know if the woman had asked Colin to act out anything in the books, but none of the power games had filtered into their bedroom. If they had, Colin would have quickly discovered who the real dominant one in their relationship was.

The nightstand drawer held the typical assortment of items: a vibrator, a condoms, lubes. The dresser revealed that she had two distinctly different types of underwear. The plain, utilitarian bras and panties were most likely to wear on duty. The lacier, flimsier items probably only came out on dates and nights out. Jocelyn wondered how many of the lacy items had ended up on the floor of her bedroom, how many of them had been tangled in the sheets of her bed. Wondering only served to arouse her, so she shut the drawer and moved on.

She had considered sabotaging Colin’s first affair. They’d been married for ten years, Madison was six and seemed like more work than she was worth. Jocelyn had broken into the home of the woman Colin was fucking on the side - a quiet and anxious young woman who worked at the library - and found a box of condoms. She had imagined poking holes in the rubbers and waiting for Colin’s tearful confession that he’d gotten another woman pregnant. The marriage would end and she would be free.

But that would be counterproductive. She needed the marriage to blend in with the rest of the world. It wasn’t really fair to them, but the truth was she didn’t care. A few months later she went to the doctor and discovered she was pregnant with her second child. It seemed like a cruel twist of fate; the sabotage she had failed to follow-through on backfired, and she was stuck with another mewling infant demanding her attention. 

She sighed and took another tour through the house. The fridge was full of healthy snacks, along with a few “cheat” items full of calories and actual taste. She plucked a few green grapes off the twig and popped them into her mouth, squinting at the tartness of the first bite. She stood in front of the window to look out into the backyard, hand curled inward to hold the handful of grapes she’s stolen. She rolled one out between her thumb and forefinger and popped it into her mouth.

The air-conditioner clicked on, an odd sound this late in the season. Jocelyn was antsy. Part of her wanted to lie in wait until Shannon got home, take her down, tie her up, and then leave. She was itching for another job, but her private phone had been silent. Three weeks. It was hardly a record, not even half the length of her longest lull between jobs. Part of it had to do with Echo. She knew that when the next job came in it would be more than just a job; it would be a teachable moment. 

Last time she staked out the marina, Shannon stayed on the water for just over an hour. Jocelyn looked at her watch and assumed she had fifteen minutes left before Shannon even started getting ready to return home. She considered pushing her luck but decided against it. She made sure everything was left the way she’d found it and then left through the side door in the garage. She walked down the driveway, eyes on the road for anyone passing by.

People made such a big deal about break-ins, acted like it took some daring or cunning to get away with it. The simple fact was people never looked, or if they looked they didn’t see. In order for her to be caught she would not only have to be seen, the witness would have to assume the worst, and then they would have to summon the courage to call 911. If they got to that point their inner need to not make a fuss would shout at them that they were being ridiculous and causing trouble. She stuck her hands in her pockets and walked confidently around the corner to where she had parked.

She knew that if anyone saw her, they would forget her within ten minutes. Suburban indifference was the next best thing to actual invisibility.

#

She stopped at Walgreens on the way home and sprayed several fragrances in the air until she found the one that matched Shannon’s house. Febreze Winter Magic & Glow. She bought two cans and then saw the book from Shannon’s nightstand for sale on a rack near the cash register. She bought it as well. She needed people to believe Colin was attracted to her, and the easiest way to do that was to ape a woman he actually did like. She paid for her items and went home a little before lunchtime. Colin was in his nook writing and she stowed her bag under the counter where he wouldn’t stumble over it.

“I’m home.”

“Hey, sweetie,” Colin called from the other room. “I thought you’d be gone all day.”

Jocelyn couldn’t resist. “I’m full of surprises. You better watch your step or I’ll find you doing all sorts of naughty things.”

He came out of the nook as she left the kitchen, and they crossed paths in the living room. Jocelyn was dressed for work, and she supposed Colin technically was as well. He wore jeans without a belt and a V-neck shirt, unshaven and bleary-eyed. She wondered if he’d gone back to bed after she left. Part of her felt sorry for Shannon, going to the trouble of having an affair only to be stuck with a schlub like him. But she knew he cleaned up well.

“You’re going to need a haircut soon, shaggy.” She playfully ruffled his hair so that it fell across his forehead. “I just wanted to come home for lunch. I could call in an order at Luigi’s, you could go pick it up.” He started to protest about the fact she could have gotten it on the way home, but she spoke before he could. “Come on, you know that guy doesn’t like me. He’s a misogynistic asshole, but he makes great meatball subs. Please?”

He sighed and smiled. “Okay. Let me go get my shoes.”

“Great. I’ll call in the order.”

He went upstairs and she called the restaurant. No one who worked there was actually rude to her, but she liked having an excuse to send Colin out now and again. He returned with shoes, and a belt and a shirt over his V-neck, and she told him the order would be ready in about ten minutes. She thanked him, shouted a hollow “Love you,” to the closing door, and then went to retrieve her groceries. She sprayed the wintery fragrance through the house, concentrating it heavily in the living room near his work space, and then sat behind his desk.

His computer was protected by a password; she never asked for it so he would never ask for hers. She tried Shannon, Molloy, various combinations of both names, and then the names of the kids. None of them worked so, as a last ditch option, she tried her own name. The computer paused and then opened.

“Jesus. Be more pathetic,” she muttered.

He had left the computer on a document, the novel or short story he was currently working on. The main character seemed to be someone named Joseph Keesler, and he was in the middle of a conversation with someone named Naomi. She opened his photos and found they were locked behind a separate password. She typed shannonmolloy and was allowed access. She shook her head at her husband and scrolled through a series of increasingly erotic shots.

Shannon posed in just her police uniform blouse, reflective glasses showing Colin holding up his phone to take the picture. Shannon with her back turned in a pair of the lacy panties she’d seen in the drawers, looking over her shoulder with a coy expression. None of the pictures were fully nude, to her disappointment, but she scrolled through them all just in case one had slipped in. She opened a new browser window, logged in to her email, and sent herself the choicest pics of her husband’s mistress. Once they were sent she closed everything and abandoned the computer so it could go back to sleep before Colin got back with their food.

When he arrived he was halfway to the kitchen before he smelled the air freshener. He paused and scanned as if he could see the scent, then frowned at her. “What smells so nice?”

She gave him points for sounding casual. “Isn’t it amazing? A woman sprayed some of it at work, and I just had to get some for the house. I keep thinking I’ve smelled it somewhere before.”

“Huh.” He turned and went into the kitchen, an excuse to look away from her. “Well, it does smell like Christmas. I don’t know why I think that, though.”

“I’m sure that’s it.” She followed him into the kitchen where he got plates down for their food. “I hope I’m not interrupting your writing.”

“Nah. I was about ready for a break anyway.”

 _When aren’t you?_ “Good. Making much progress?”

“Some. I got some good words yesterday.”

She nodded instead of coming up with anything worth saying. He put her sandwich on a plate, garnished it with some barbecue chips, and slid it across the counter in front of her. She smiled her gratitude to him as he pulled a stool close and sat across from her. She wondered how long it had been since he’d seen Shannon. From her surveillance, she was only off-duty Wednesday morning through Friday afternoon. His schedule was infinitely more flexible, but he couldn’t exactly run off for a booty call when she was home. She wasn’t surprised he needed the pictures; it wasn’t like she was giving him anything to take the edge off. If he wanted to expel his pent-up energy on a photograph, she was more than happy to scratch her own itch.

They were almost done with their meal when her cell phone rang. She wiped her fingers before she took it out, swallowing hard when she saw who was calling. 

“Work?”

“Yep. I’ll take it in the other room.”

“You don’t have to...”

She held up a finger and walked out of the room. “This is Jocelyn Webb.”

“That name does not suit you in the slightest, my dear.”

“No, I was just finishing up lunch. Oh. Don’t be silly. It’s fine. What do you need?”

“Your skills are required once again. Information is in the usual place.”

Jocelyn looked out the front window. “Will I have assistance on the project?”

“If you want her, Echo will be there.”

“I want.” She let the curtain fall back into place. “When do I need to be there?”

“You have time to pack. You’re booked on a 7:30 flight to Astoria, Portland. I’ll have a packet waiting for you on the other end. And Echo will be there per your request.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” She hung up and tried to control the adrenaline surging through her. She had a job. She would get to be her real self again. She felt almost giddy at the prospect, but she reined herself in before she returned to the kitchen where Colin was waiting. She sighed and held up the phone in an accusatory manner.

“They’re sending me off again. Oregon this time.” She put on a frustrated expression while inside she was rejoicing.

“Aw, honey. That sucks.” He put a sympathetic hand on hers, but she could see the cogs behind his eyes working. He was trying to figure out if she would leave before he got some time with his top-heavy redheaded trollop. 

She sighed again. “Worst part is I need to go, like, right now. I won’t get to say goodbye to the kids. I’ll text them from the airport, I guess.”

“They’ll understand. It’s your job.”

“I hope so.” She leaned across the counter and kissed him. “Sorry to eat and run.”

“Hey, I got you for three whole weeks this time. Almost four. I shouldn’t be greedy.”

She brushed her fingers over his stubble and said, “Okay. I’ll go pack.” She left the kitchen and headed for the stairs. She remained on the landing and listened carefully. After a few seconds she heard Colin’s whispered voice coming from the kitchen doorway. She knew he was watching to see if she was coming back.

“Hey. It’s me...”

She smirked and went to pack.


	7. Chapter 7

Myles was sitting in a plastic chair, one leg draped over the other, his hands folded on his knee as he watched the people passing by. Joss passed in front of him and left an empty chair between them when she sat. He didn’t turn to look at her, but a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? Arriving in the terminal. Considering the other meaning of the word.”

Joss said nothing. She had changed at the Pierre airport, a peach-colored top under a leather jacket that matched Madison’s. She had bought it specifically to spite Lois Keller, even though she would never wear it at home. She didn’t want people to think she was the pathetic middle-age mom leeching off her daughter’s style in an attempt to remain relevant. Her hair was slicked back and she felt like herself for the first time in a month. She waited for Myles to complete his people-watching. Finally he reached down and took a manila envelope from his bag. He put it on the seat between them.

“Time isn’t of the essence for this one, but the client would like it dealt with in a reasonable manner. Take your time to get comfortable. Astoria’s a pretty small town. It’ll be difficult for you to go unnoticed there.”

She picked up the envelope. “Where’s my shadow?”

“She’ll be arriving shortly. Her flight was delayed.” He looked at her. “How much did she tell you about herself?”

“Just the basics. Why she wanted to get into the profession, how she got on your radar.”

“You like her?”

Joss hunched her shoulders. “She’s not an obstruction. She doesn’t get in the way. I went over all of this in my report.”

“I know. But sometimes I like to hear it in person.” He checked his watch and uncrossed his legs. “She’ll be arriving within the hour. Give her my regards. There’s a credit card in the envelope that will cover car rental, gas, hotel, all those wonderful things. If you’re still here in three days send me a progress report so I can reassure the client.” He stood up and brushed the wrinkles from his jacket. “Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work you go.”

Joss touched two fingers to her brow and saluted him. He chuckled and walked away, leaving her with the envelope. She opened it and took out the file of her next target.

She was halfway through the first page of information when she became aware of someone breaking away from the flow of people to approach her. She glanced up to acknowledge Echo’s arrival before she went back to reading. Echo took the seat next to her and remained silent, arms crossed over her sweater as she waited. Joss finally reached the end, closed the file, and stood up. Echo did the same, and they started walking.

“We have quite a drive ahead of us. We’re going to be spending close to two hours on the road.”

“I can handle it.”

“This job won’t be as quick as last time.”

Echo nodded. “I made arrangements. I can be gone up to two weeks before someone notices.”

“Good.”

They rented a car, a regular and nondescript sedan that would blend in well once they arrived in Astoria. When they were on the road Joss handed over the information from Myles and Echo began poring over it. Joss reviewed the info in her mind as Echo read it aloud. “Patrick Allworth. Thirty-seven, divorced twice, two children from the first marriage. They live with their mother in Utah. He’s a contractor. No criminal record. Looks nice enough.” She chewed her lip and closed the file. “Do you ever wonder why?”

“No.”

“Just no?”

Joss nodded slowly. “It doesn’t do any good to wonder. Sometimes I find out, I’ll watch the news and they’ll mention a shady business deal or a trial in which the deceased was supposed to testify, and I put the pieces together. But I won’t go looking for a reason, and I would suggest you don’t either. No good can come from it. The best-case scenario is that you’ll agree with the reasoning. But what if you think the person you were sent to kill is in the right? We’re hired to kill people, Echo. The people hiring us to do our jobs are generally not the good guys. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No. I was just thinking during this past month. It just seems hollow. I knew why I was killing my therapist. If I kill a person, even if it’s for money, a part of me wants it justified. Even if I don’t agree with the reason I want to know why I’m pulling the trigger.”

“You’re pulling the trigger because someone paid you to. It’s as simple as that. Further knowledge only serves on purpose: to stir up your emotions. Increasing your emotional investment makes it harder to pull the trigger.”

Echo closed the file. She let a few more miles pass under their tires before she spoke again. “I missed you this month.”

Joss considered ignoring the comment but quickly gave in. “It’s good to see you again.”

“How did your daughter’s birthday go? I-if I can ask.”

“It went fine. I got her a leather jacket.”

Echo chuckled. “Great choice.”

Joss felt the need to reciprocate. “How was your month away?”

“It was fine. I could hardly concentrate on my classes. I kept thinking about being in the office, hearing you with Mr. Craig. I couldn’t wait for the next time.”

Joss glanced at her. “Did you?” Echo looked out the window without replying, and Joss stifled the urge to sigh. “What did you do? Tell me everything.”

“I remembered what you said about never killing for free. And I figured no one would pay me to kill a random person, so I decided to make it count a different way. I chose someone who might make the world a better place by leaving it. So I read the local newspaper and tried to find someone who fit the bill. He was a wife-beater. The paper said that cops had been out to his house multiple times but the wife never pressed charges. I found their house and started watching it. A couple of nights I heard them fighting but the husband would go out and stand on the porch, drinking or smoking a cigarette, and the cops never showed up. I guess he didn’t hit her on those nights. One night after I heard the fight I got out of the car. I had a leash and a flashlight. When he came out, I crossed in front of his house calling for my dog. I was wearing a short skirt and a blouse that was unbuttoned more than it needed to be.”

Joss glanced over and decided that the right outfit would be more than enough enticement for a certain type of man to follow her into the darkness.

“I asked if he could help me find my dog and he agreed. When I said I didn’t have cash for a reward, he said he thought we could work something out. That’s when I knew I had him. I waited until we were off the street and I turned around. He got in really close and touched me, barely even noticed when I looped the leash around his neck and pulled it taut. I backed up and pulled and he went down. I got on top of him and pulled. It had a choke chain, and I used both hands. I don’t know. If he’d just attacked me, I might have gotten really hurt. But he was more focused on trying to undo the leash and breathe to even know I was there.”

Joss said, “What did you do with the body?”

“I left it there. I took the leash and drove almost ten miles before I even started looking for an industrial-size dumpster to leave it in.”

“And the body?”

“I left it in the alley. This little access road that runs between the buildings. They found him the next day. He apparently had a lot of enemies. Hell, even the cops who investigated the scene wanted him dead. It was basically a public service. I did what I had to do.”

“Was your car ever spotted on the block? Were you noticed?”

“I parked in different places every time I went. I borrowed my friend’s car for two of the trips.”

Joss considered the things she’d done wrong. Leaving the body behind was a stupid rookie mistake, but Echo was a rookie. She had done a lot of things right considering it was only her second kill. 

“What did you do after you killed him?”

“I didn’t even really think about it until I got home. I was shaking so bad. But I showered, I flushed the rubber gloves I had worn down the toilet, and I put the clothes I was wearing in a plastic bag. The next day I drove to a different town and put them in one of those big donation bins outside of a church.”

“How did you sleep?”

“I slept well.” Joss could tell she was summoning the courage to keep talking. Finally she said, “I masturbated thinking about it. Holding him down, feeling him fight me. It made me wet at the time but I made myself hold off until I got home. I did it in the shower and then again when I was in bed.”

Joss resisted the urge to smile. “I was the same way, the first few times.”

“Does it go away in time?”

“No. But you learn to control it a little better. I like finding someone not long after I complete a job and fucking her senseless. It’s just another component to the job.”

Echo said, “You...” 

Joss looked at her and then at the road again. “Yes?”

“You didn’t do that last time. I mean, you might have after you got home, I guess. But you had the opportunity right after the assignment was finished.”

“What are you asking, Echo?”

She whispered, “You know.”

“Yes. But I want you to ask.”

Echo rubbed her thighs with both hands. “Why didn’t you fuck me?”

“Because I wanted to know how I felt about you without the sexual component getting in the way. I didn’t want to wonder if I gave you a good recommendation just because I wanted to bed you again. I didn’t know if you would have been receptive and, if you hadn’t been, it would have meant you asked Myles for another mentor. I didn’t want to risk that, either.”

“Oh. Well. Just for future reference, if you had taken me, I would have begged Myles to let me come back.”

Joss raised an eyebrow. “Good to know.”

Echo rubbed her lips together. “How long do we have before we reach Astoria?”

“About an hour and fifteen minutes. You have time to nap if you’d like.”

“Okay. Joss... I’m really glad you gave me a good recommendation.”

Joss nodded. “Of course. Now you have to earn it. You have to make me proud and we’ll see about making this partnership permanent. At least until you’re ready to go out on your own.”

Echo smiled and slid down in her seat. Joss looked over a few minutes later and saw that she was already fast asleep.

#

Echo woke up just long enough to take off her sweater, revealing a sleeveless undershirt that was tight enough to show the contours of her bra. When she drifted off again, Joss looked over and admired the lean shape of the girl’s torso. Just curvy enough to be girlish, flat enough to be boyish. Just the way Joss liked it, and the fact that she had a similar build wasn’t lost on her. One of her “ships in the night” suggested Joss was just fucking different versions of herself. Joss had wondered what was so wrong with that. Didn’t everyone do that, to some degree or another?

The Pacific Ocean soon spread out before them, with Astoria between them and the water. She reached over and touched Echo’s arm to wake her, and the girl pushed herself upright and breathed deeply as she woke. No startling, no jerky movements or frantic attempts to figure out where she was. Joss approved and made a mental note of it. 

“Looks like we’re here,” she said.

Joss nodded. “We’ll find a hotel that doesn’t look too empty, drop off our stuff, and then we’ll prepare.”

“You want to stake him out?”

“No, not yet. There are other ways to get ready. Last time I showed you the boring part, so this time we’ll get a bit more physical. Hope you brought some comfortable workout clothes.”

They found a hotel with a half-full parking lot, the best option by Joss’ standards. There were enough people staying there that the staff wouldn’t be able to pay them extra attention, but not so many that the halls and elevators would be crowded. Joss checked them in and carried their bags up to the room. There were two beds, but this time Joss showed a bit of equality by putting the suitcases on the floor rather than taking up space on Echo’s bed. Echo flipped the Do Not Disturb sign onto the knob, and Joss nodded her approval.

“You’re good at this.”

“I’ve been imagining it for the past month. And fantasizing about it for a lot longer. This kind of feels like a dream.”

Joss shot her right arm out and slapped her hard in the face. Echo cried out in surprise and backed up a step, staring as she cupped her cheek.

“First, wake up. This is real life. You’ll hurt, you’ll bleed, and you’ll die if you’re not completely awake and aware. Secondly, the next time someone strikes you, hurt them back. You should have grabbed my arm before I could pull it back. You should have put me on the ground for hurting you.”

“I... don’t think I’m that... strong.”

“You will be,” Joss said. “Phase two of your training starts today. Get dressed in something comfortable.”

Echo took her smallest bag into the bathroom while Joss changed in the room. She had just put on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt when Echo emerged wearing a T-shirt that had been turned inside out. Joss glanced at the shape of whatever design was on the front, and Echo caught her looking.

“I didn’t realize it had the name of my city on it. I figured you would prefer not to see.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” She looked at Echo’s shoes. She had changed into a pair of sneakers. “Come on. We’re going for a run.”

“Oh. I can map out a route on my phone.”

Joss shook her head. “If you ever have to run from a job, odds are you won’t have a chance to look up an escape route. I’m going to show you how to observe traffic patterns, how to read street signs at a glance. In an ideal world, you’ll have memorized the neighborhood in which the job takes place, but you can’t commit and entire city’s grid to memory, and you have no idea how far you’ll have to run.”

“Okay.”

Joss led the way downstairs. Once they left the lobby and stood under the hotel portico, Joss put her hands on her hips and took a second to breathe the fresh air. She looked at Echo and, after a beat, said, “Catch me.” She spun on the ball of her foot and took off running. Seconds later she heard Echo begin pursuit. The hotel was on a street that seemed as if it had been cut out of a rolling hill, the lawns on either side elevated and held back by retaining walls. Joss cut across the grass, bypassing the stone-carved steps leading to the sidewalk in a gentle slope and choosing instead to leap from the edge of the lawn to land on the sidewalk. She heard Echo’s attempt to duplicate, heard her scrambling near-fall and recovery. 

Joss raced east uphill, feeling the burn in her thighs and calves as she ascended. The run originated as a training exercise for Echo, but now Joss was glad she’d suggested it. If they did have to run she was grateful to discover just how steep the town was at a time when endurance didn’t matter as much. She could already tell it would be a short outing. Behind her she could hear Echo huffing and puffing to keep up. She took pity when the sounds of her footfalls became more distant; it was their first chase so she was willing to make things a little easier than they needed to be. She found a footpath that led into a block of private homes, ducking under branches that needed trimming and catapulting over hoses, toys, and other various suburban detritus that littered the sidewalk and driveways.

Whenever she sensed Echo getting close she changed direction, darting across the street with only a cursory glance for traffic. She cut behind a large yellow trash truck with “WESTERN OREGON WASTE - WOW!” emblazoned on the side as a lesson in evasion. She turned north and saw that the street ended in a dead-end grove, the terminus of the street shaded by overhanging trees. She saw a small clearing carpeted by crushed leaves and grass clippings. Joss slowed to a stop as she approached it, turning to see Echo still barreling toward her. She started to congratulate her for keeping up, but Echo didn’t slow. Joss braced for impact just as the young woman collided with her. Joss’ feet left the ground and Echo tackled her to the ground.

Joss pushed and rolled before Echo could successfully pin her. She laid her arm across Echo’s chest and held her down as she straddled her hips. She sat up and allowed herself a smile.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but the chase was over. I’d stopped running.”

“Oh. I still caught you.”

“Yeah, you did. You kept up with me, and that’s no easy feat. Call it a technical victory.”

“I’m fine with that.” She looked down. “Are you going to get off of me?”

Joss remained where she was for a long moment, giving Echo the chance to wonder if the answer was ‘no’. She then pushed up and stood, brushing the grass clippings from her sweaty arms and back. She offered Echo a hand and helped her up. Echo brushed the grass from her skin as well.

“Now what?”

“Now we go back to the hotel by a different route. You lead.”

“And you’ll chase me?”

Joss said, “And I’ll catch up.”

Echo grinned a challenge, looked over her shoulder, and began running. Joss gave her a sporting ten-second head start before she pursued.


	8. Chapter 8

Patrick Allworth’s apartment was one-twelfth of a building that had been sectioned off into affordable apartments. Joss and Echo set up camp in an abandoned Laundromat on the corner. From the back window Joss had a clear view of Allworth’s home. His apartment was at the back of the building, facing the alley, so the possibilities had been few. If the laundry hadn’t had a decent sightline they’d have been forced to camp out on the roof. Hardly ideal, and harder to explain if they got caught. Echo was stationed at the front of the building where she could see without being seen, planted on the floor so she could peek through the grime-stained windows at the street.

“Are we allowed to talk?”

“Sure. Just don’t let it get in the way of your surveillance. Got a topic in mind?” She looked back and confirmed Echo was still facing the street.

“Do you often have to run? Or fight?”

Joss shook her head. “There’s really no ‘often’ in this kind of work. It all depends on the person. I’ve had people fight me. I’ve had people ask me if they can smoke a final cigarette before I pull the trigger.”

“What do you say?”

Joss shrugged. “No skin off my nose. One guy, I guess about ten years ago? He had this beautiful humidor of Cuban cigars. I walked in and his shoulders slumped, and he said the worst thing about it all was that the cigars would go to waste. I told him I could wait. He actually thanked me before I killed him. He gave me the rest out of gratitude for that last smoke.”

“That was kind of you.”

Joss shook her head. “It didn’t matter either way. I kept my eye on him and I knew he wasn’t buying time. He just wanted to enjoy something he’d been saving. He couldn’t take it with him. He deserved a little happiness.”

Echo said, “What about not letting emotions get in the way?”

“Emotions never entered into it. The guy could have fought, he could have run, but he was willing to go peacefully if I granted him one kindness. It was a negotiation. Besides, I like the smell of cigar smoke, and Cubans are particularly aromatic. I don’t smoke, but I appreciated the way the room smelled.”

“Did you take the cigars?”

“Of course. Still have most of them at home in a little humidor. When you’re ready to go solo, I’ll bring you one.”

“I don’t smoke.”

Joss smiled again. “It’s Cubano. It’s not about smoking it.” She straightened slightly and brought the binoculars up. Their position offered the only sightline, but it was less than optimal. All she could see was a small sliver of the living room, including a television and a mirror that was angled to show an area of the hall that Patrick Allworth apparently never entered. “Movement in the apartment. Looks like Allworth is getting ready to go out for the night. TV is off and he just passed the window in a jacket.” 

“Are we going to follow him?”

“I’m going to follow him.” She slid off her perch. “You’re going to get into the apartment.”

Echo stood and moved to one side of the window. “Me? Why?”

“This view is shit. I want to know what to expect when I get in there. I’ll text if it looks like he’s coming back. You’ll have to be quick and quiet. If you’d prefer I break in while you tail him--”

“No, I’m good. Thank you for trusting me to do it.”

Joss said, “I don’t really have another option. You’re available and you’re handy.” The girl’s face fell so Joss relented. “And I know you won’t fuck it up. If there was a chance you weren’t ready I wouldn’t do it this way. I believe in you.”

“Thanks.”

Joss checked to make sure she had everything. “Text me when you’re out of the apartment. I’ll find a way to stall him if I have to, but don’t expect much leeway. I want a blueprint. It doesn’t have to be exact, but as close as you can make it.”

“Okay. Go! You’ll miss him.”

Joss left their makeshift fort and returned to the car. She had to wait for traffic to pass, then turned north just as Allworth pulled up to a red light. She recognized the blue Datsun pick-up from the dossier received from the client and she fell back to give him a three-car lead. If Echo hadn’t been available Joss would have explored the apartment without tailing him. It was more dangerous than having a spotter, but she had to know the apartment’s layout. She couldn’t risk getting turned around or making a costly mistake when the time came to do her job.

Allworth drove to the edge of the peninsula, the view of the water obscured by a parade of ugly white storage buildings. Joss didn’t understand how people could live so close to such natural beauty and decide to hide it behind something mundane and ordinary. Allworth pulled in to a restaurant near the bridge, and Joss parked near the entrance of a random storage monstrosity. She got out and started walking. She spotted Allworth up ahead, also walking. Apparently he had chosen a parking spot at random the same as she had. She followed him to a motel, but he bypassed the office and went directly upstairs. He knocked, looked around nervously, and ducked inside as soon as the door was opened a crack. It shut behind him.

Normally Joss would have either taken a position nearby, or gone back to her car to move it closer to where Allworth was parked. She’d had enough of sitting in cars doing nothing, however, and she instead crossed the parking lot and went upstairs. She was dressed in her black leather jacket, her hair in a bun at the base of her skull, and she knew she looked anything but casual as she ascended the stairs and crossed to Room 5. She stood between the door and the window and listened to the muffled conversation coming from inside. She heard two men speaking, the first piece of conversation she heard already rousing her interest.

“--kill you. You understand that, don’t you?”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, I do! Either way I have to live without you. At least this way you’ll still be out there and you’ll still be alive.”

Allworth said, “If you call that living.”

“Rick, don’t joke about this.”

“You’re the one who started joking with all this killing bullshit.”

The other man said, “You think I’m joking? Sara’s family doesn’t mess around on things like this, Rick. If she finds out I’m still seeing you, she’s not going to play nice anymore. She won’t divorce me, but she can damn well take you out of the picture.”

“So they’re mobsters now?”

“They’re used to getting what they want. They have the money to make it happen. I’m not going to let you be a victim of their latest ‘keeping up appearances’ bullshit.”

Allworth’s voice was soft when he replied. “Look, you’re jumping to a crazy conclusion. If they find out I’m still sticking around, they’ll try to buy me off. They’ll offer me a huge amount I can’t refuse to move away, and eventually I’ll say yes. I’ll be horrified at my greed, and they’ll happily write the check. I’ll cash it, and then I’ll pick you up and we’ll go somewhere they’ll never think to look for us.”

“Myanmar?” the other man said, his anxiety coloring the amusement in his voice.

“Absolutely.”

There wasn’t any more talking, and Joss heard the sound of bodies on bedsprings. She pushed back and went downstairs. She would move her car to await Patrick’s return and curse the fact she’d gotten close enough to overhear the conversation. Now she would know the reason she was pulling the trigger, and she would know that she was killing the good guy in the scenario. She forced the knowledge back, ignored the new information, and replaced it with the same story she’d always had. It was the same story for every person she killed.

They deserved to die because someone was paying her good money to make sure they stopped living. There were no good guys, bad guys, heroes, or villains. There was the client, there was a target. The only thing separating them was money. She didn’t question why she’d let her guard slip on this job; it was Echo’s incessant questioning and pushing, her probing at things she didn’t yet understand. Joss got back into her car and moved it to the restaurant’s parking lot.

She would wait until the drive back to Portland to have the talk, after the job was done. Then she would take advantage of the long drive to hammer home some hard truths about their purpose. They weren’t judge or jury on their assignments.

They were just the executioners.

#

Just over an hour later, Allworth returned. He took out his keys and juggled them in one hand as he walked, head down to contemplate the ground. He stopped at his car and looked at the bridge that arched high overhead. A fog had built up around the pine-green framework, giving shape to the skeletal form, and the glow of the red lights at the apex of each arch dispersed in the haze to create bloody smears in the sky overhead. Joss watched as Allworth approached his car, then brought his keys up to shine his light into the backseat. He stepped back and crouched to sweep the light underneath the car, then stood and walked all around it.

Joss suddenly understood why Myles had told her the job might take a while; Allworth may have acted like the voice of wisdom with his lover, but he wasn’t taking the threat lightly. Only when he’d made certain the car was safe did he finally unlock the door and get inside. Joss sent Echo a text to let her know he was on the way home. Less than twenty seconds later she received a reply that she was already back at the hotel. Joss gave Allworth a five minute lead before she started the car so he wouldn’t think he was being followed.

When she got back to the hotel, Echo was sitting on the bed with a notebook open in front of her. She looked up when Joss came in, smiled, and went back to her work. “I’m almost done with the blueprint. It’s a pretty simple apartment. Living room and kitchen blend into the dining room, then a little hallway with the den, bathroom, and bedroom.

Joss tilted her head to look at the in-progress map. She noted the measurements along each side and frowned. “You stopped to measure distances?”

“No. I counted my footsteps and kept my stride as uniform as possible. When I got back here, I measured out a five-foot length on the carpet and paced it.”

Joss said, “That’s impressive.”

“It may not be entirely accurate, but it’s close.”

“Sometimes close is enough.”

Echo looked up and flipped her hair back from her face. “Are you okay? You sound a little weird. Where did Allworth go?”

“It’s not important.” Joss sat on her bed and bent down to untie her shoes. “He’s cautious. Did he have a security system on the apartment?”

“No. Believe me, I looked. There was a sign in the front garden warning of an alarm system and a neighborhood watch, but I think it was just for show.”

Joss said, “People pay for the signs. A lot cheaper than the system, and a thief won’t take the risk.” She stretched out on top of the blankets fully dressed. “Tomorrow we’ll follow him to work and see if there are any holes in his vigilance.”

“Do you want me to turn out the lights?”

“No,” Joss said, but she turned off the bedside lamp on her side of the nightstand. She closed her eyes, hands folded on her stomach, and quickly slipped off. She had trained herself to take advantage of the necessities when they were available. Greta’s first rule had been “Sleep when there’s a bed, eat when there’s food, and piss when there’s a bathroom. Necessities quickly become luxuries when you’re on a job. Never forget that.”

She slept lightly, aware of Echo’s movement in the room. The girl finished her map and went to the bathroom. A few minutes later she came back trailing an aura of scented soap and shampoo. Joss would have to scold her for that. Unscented soap was the difference between catching someone off-guard or letting them know someone was there. 

Joss drifted off again after Echo turned off the light and went to bed. She dreamt of her own days of training, how Greta had left her face-down in a backyard with a scope and a notepad so she could track the comings and goings of the target’s family. It rained, a dog had peed on her, and she’d only been allowed one food and bathroom break every twelve hours that had to coincide with the family being absent. When the stakeout was finally over, Greta had taken her out to a proper dinner. Joss ate steak and lobster as if she was a prisoner of war who’d just been set free, twigs still sticking out of her hair and ants biting her under her clothes.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a day or a week,” Greta said, “as long as you’re on a job, your life revolves around the target’s life. You don’t get to decide when you go to bed, or when you can have a break. You look for the opening and you figure out how to take advantage of it.”

The next morning when Joss woke, Echo was sitting cross-legged on the foot of her bed facing a muted television. The closed-captions were scrolling along the bottom of the page. Joss slid her hand over to the nightstand, gripped the remote, and pressed the volume-up button. Natalie Morales suddenly bellowed from the speakers, and Echo’s body tensed at the sudden noise. By the time she thought to look over her shoulder, Joss was out from beneath the blankets. Echo tried to move but her legs were too tangled, too numb from how she’d been sitting, or both. Joss slipped an arm under Echo’s and used her forward momentum to knock her off the bed. They hit the floor together with Echo pinned, one arm stuck above her head while Joss held the other down.

“To make up for letting you tackle me yesterday.”

“‘Letting me’ tackle you?”

The corners of Joss’ mouth curled slightly and let her go. She stood up and offered her hand, but Echo stood on her own. “I thought the door would wake you up, so I haven’t been down to get breakfast yet. They don’t offer it at the hotel but I could go grab something. Do you want me to bring something back?”

“Sure. But we’ll go together and eat at the Laundromat. One of us should sit on the house while the other one follows him to work.” She knew which of them would get which task, but she wondered if Echo did. “Which do you want?”

Echo thought for a moment. “You said he never spotted you last night when you tailed him. But he might have caught a glimpse and didn’t think anything of it. If he sees you again today, though... I think I should be the one to follow him and you stay out of sight.”

“Correct. Come on.”

They gathered their things and headed out. They got breakfast at McDonald’s, and Echo dropped Joss off a block away from the Laundromat. She would wait nearby, and Joss would text her when Allworth left his apartment so she could fall in behind him. She used a back alley to reach the Laundromat and let herself in. She resumed the perch she’d had the night before and looked out toward Allworth’s home. She thought about what she’d overheard the night before and, though she tried to silence the thoughts, they settled in as she picked at her Egg McMuffin.

Apparently Patrick Allworth had gotten involved with a married man, a man married to someone rich enough, or influential enough, to be scandalized by her husband leaving her for another man. The easiest way to assure the status quo would be to remove the temptation. Enter the hired killer. She watched as he pushed back the curtains and rested his arms on the railing of his narrow balcony. He was still in his pajamas, his hair uncombed, and he stared out toward the water. 

Joss had a gun with her, one with long-range capabilities. She didn’t have a spotter but it was a calm day. She could eyeball the wind speed and distance. She used her right arm as a rest and put her left arm across it, aiming with her finger out the window. She would be firing approximately eighty yards uphill, winds from the west at about five miles an hour.

She lowered her hand. Even if she wanted to try the shot, there were too many variables. There was too high a possibility that something would go wrong and he’d be warned someone was after him. He was already too paranoid to make the job easy. She didn’t need a bullet hole in his wall to push him to anything extreme. He rubbed his face and went back inside. When she saw him again he was crossing toward the kitchen. His hair was combed and he’d changed into a white button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up. She sent a text to Echo: “Stand by.” She left her perch and went to the front of the building, risking a witness seeing her through the glass so she could watch the street. It was angled so steeply that it appeared as if he was on a roller coaster when his car passed. She sent Echo another text: “He’s moving.”

Seconds later she got a reply: “Got him.”

Joss went back to her perch. The last time she’d worked with a partner had been during training with Greta, and she was unaccustomed to being able to just sit and watch while someone else did the legwork. She trusted Echo to do a good job, and she knew that between them an opening would reveal itself before much time passed. Before she had too long to sit and ruminate with her thoughts. Her mind wandered, found connections she didn’t want. She thought about Crystal, the way she had been stolen from her with no warning. She thought about how that one moment had turned her into a killer. 

No. Tracking down the man who hurt Crystal had just been a catalyst to make her the person she was always meant to be. If Crystal hadn’t been murdered, Joss probably would have graduated and gotten some mundane job where she slowly went crazy. Pills and therapist bills and quietly resenting the life she’d built for herself. She would have been Jocelyn Webb for real, for every day of her life, and the idea sickened her.

She supposed in that way, Crystal dying had been the best thing that ever happ--

Joss toppled off her perch, one hand on the wall to keep herself from falling over completely. She didn’t let the thought form, and when it lingered she threw herself forward. She rammed her head into the side of the nearest washing machine so hard that the metal side caved in. Joss shouted in pain and anger as she butted it again, this time falling to her knees as the pain radiated from the center of her crown like a spike had been driven through it.

She sat on the floor cradling her head and ignoring the trickle of blood that ran down where her hair was parted. Allworth and his lover were nothing like her and Crystal. She didn’t need to justify it, and she didn’t need to twist her own mind in tangles to make it okay for her to finish the job. Allworth was a paycheck to her. When the opening was found, when they had the right balance of opportunity and room to maneuver, she would do her job. Then she would go home and wait for the next call to come in.

Just like always.

#

On the fourth day, the opportunity arose. Allworth remained vigilant both at home and at the worksite. Echo reported that he always checked his car before getting in, that he never took the same route to work, and he often got breakfast from McDonald’s and ate it in the parking lot while watching traffic go by. She was forced to drive past him and park behind a hotel until he finally reappeared, and every day she risked losing him at some point during his commute. When he was home he kept his blinds mostly closed. Every two or three hours he would step out onto the balcony and scan the yards around his almost as if he was on guard duty.

Joss had no idea who the “Sara” was his lover had mentioned, but whoever she was, she had Allworth scared.

Even the most vigilant security has flaws, however. It was dusk, and Allworth had just come home when his cell phone rang. The bug Joss had planted on the second day of surveillance picked up his side of the conversation. The details didn’t matter; all she cared about was the fact that he had an emergency at the job site and was needed right away. He left the apartment without locking the door behind him, and he raced back to work without the luxury of taking a circuitous route. Echo had followed him home and was still parked down the street from the apartment when he raced off.

“Follow?” she texted.

“Watch for him to return. It’s time.”

Joss checked her gun, which she’d cleaned every day since they arrived, and tucked it into her belt. There was a wide alley between the Laundromat and Allworth’s building, and she strolled casually down the center of it in case anyone happened to be looking out their window. She hopped the fence into the apartment building’s backyard and gripped the support beam of Allworth’s balcony and climbed. She checked the lock on the balcony door, pushed it open, and entered the apartment.

She walked to the hallway and turned right. Allworth’s bedroom was at the end of the hall, about five feet away from the living room entrance. Echo’s map was right on the money. Joss took out her gun, screwed the silencer on, and scanned the room. A framed picture on the desk showed Allworth and the man from the hotel posing with a ski lift behind them. Their cheeks were red from the cold, and they had their arms draped casually across each other’s shoulders. Joss walked over and turned it facedown. She pulled a chair over so she had a clear line of fire to the door, but far enough to one side so Allworth wouldn’t see her until he was already in the room.

Then she waited.

Two hours passed. The twilight glow in the windows faded and disappeared completely, leaving her in the dark. She preferred the added cover. She relaxed, stared calmly at the doorway, and waited. Her phone buzzed with a message from Echo but she didn’t need to read it. She took a deep breath, held it for five seconds, and slowly released it. She repeated it until she heard the key in the lock and Allworth turned on the living room light. He was cursing quietly under his breath as he came down the hall, and seconds later his bulk darkened the bedroom door.

“Don’t turn on the light.”

He froze, one hand already up for the switch. After a moment he said, “Shit. Sara?”

“No. Are you armed?”

“Yeah.”

“The knife?”

He paused, obviously wondering when she would have seen the small switchblade he had in his back pocket. “Yeah.”

“Won’t do much good against a gun, will it?”

“Probably not.”

Joss said, “Either way, hands up.”

He complied. “You know why you’re doing this?”

“I know exactly why I’m doing this. You’re worth more to me dead than alive. No offense. I just didn’t know you when you were alive.”

“When I _was_...”

“Past-tense. You died the moment I came into his apartment.” She stood. “Get on your knees, Mr. Allworth. Slowly.”

He did as she asked. “Can I...” He swallowed hard. “I want to say goodbye to him. It doesn’t even have to be a phone call. I can do a voice recording on my phone. He’ll find it. I just have to let him know I love him and I’m... sorry.” He swallowed hard.

Joss kept the gun aimed at his head. They were both just shapes in the darkness, backlit by the living room. Even so she could see him trembling. Joss thought about Crystal again. She steeled herself, jaw tight, eyes narrowed, and imagined the bullet passing through his head. She hadn’t had to work herself up this much for her first kill. Her nose wrinkled, her expression becoming a sneer, and she turned her hand to the side so the gun was aiming at the floor.

“Run.”

“I’m not going to make this into a game for you,” he said, some anger entering his voice. “Just do what you’re going to do. Get it over with.”

“Go get him and run. Leave. This life is over for you, but you can go on somewhere else. Run.”

He lifted his head and looked at her, and Joss was fully aware of what she had just done. She would be a complication, a loose cannon. Myles would consider her suspect in the future. Her future employment opportunities had just halved. But she couldn’t pull the trigger. Not on this one. 

“I’m--”

“I said run,” Joss snarled.

Allworth got to his feet and stumbled as he tried to run before he was fully standing. He made it all the way to the living room entrance before an arm shot out and clotheslined him. He was knocked hard onto his back, dazed as Echo stepped into the hall with one foot on either side of him. She aimed her gun at his head and pulled the trigger twice.

Joss stared at the corpse in disbelief, then looked up at Echo. She was smiling, her cheeks pink, her eyes wide with awe as she kept the gun aimed at the floor with both hands.

“So?” she asked. “Did I pass?”

Joss swallowed the lump in her throat and said the only thing she could think of to say.

“With flying colors. Well done, Echo.”


	9. Chapter 9

“I should have figured it out on the first day. Making me scope out his apartment, and then having me follow him to work. I thought it was weird that you were being so stand-offish until it just hit me. You don’t normally work with a partner. And once you say I’m good to be on my own, I won’t have anyone to support me, either. This whole trip has been a test. You wanted to see if I had what it takes to be a solo hitter. Thank you, Joss. Thank you so much.”

Joss could only nod. Echo had remained quiet for the entire walk back to the hotel, but once the door was closed she began speaking breathlessly. Joss guided her into the bathroom and began undoing the zippers, buttons and catches of her outfit. Echo seemed to finally realize what was happening when the jacket was slid down her arms and Joss folded it inside-out on the sink.

“What’s going on?”

“You were too close. You got blood on you.”

Echo looked at her hands and saw small droplets on the palms and smeared on the cuffs of her sleeves. “Oh. Oh, wow. It looks like he popped.” She laughed, normally at first but with increasing hysteria. Joss pushed the curtain back and helped Echo inside, then bent down to turn on the spray. Echo cringed when the water hit her, turning her head up as her hair was almost instantly flattened to her head. She let Joss finish undressing her, shivering under the shower in her underwear as Joss used the detachable showerhead to scrub away any spot of red she found on the skin.

“Joss.”

She looked at Echo and saw desire in her eyes. “No.”

“Please.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, the shower splashing off Echo’s skin to land on Joss’ face and arms. She had been scrubbing Echo’s wrist but moved her hand to her hips.

“Back up.”

Echo slid her feet back over the slick surface of the tub and flattened her hands to the tile. Joss unbuttoned her pants and pushed them down, taking a moment to take off her shoes and socks before joining Echo in the tub. She pulled the curtain closed, faced forward, and cupped Echo’s face with one hand. Echo parted her lips and Joss put her thumb inside against Echo’s tongue. She closed her eyes and sucked it gently, and Joss held her breath until she pulled her hand away.

“This isn’t reciprocal.”

Echo nodded slowly, eyes half-closed as she struggled to catch her breath. Joss’ tan blouse was soaked to her curves, and Echo reached for the buttons. Joss swept her hands away and ignored the hurt look in her eyes when she forced her hands back up against the tile.

“Not. Reciprocal.”

Echo swallowed and nodded again, this time with understanding. Joss held her gaze to ensure the directive held, then sank onto her knees. She pushed Echo’s legs apart; not roughly, but not with any false intimacy, either. Joss wet her lips and angled her head to brush them against Echo’s labia. She was wet, so aroused that she convulsed at the very first touch, and she moved her hand to the back of Joss’ head. She tried to force her forward but Joss resisted and moved at her own pace. 

Her thumb was wet from the shower and Echo’s mouth, and Joss pressed it against her clit as she explored the folds with her tongue. She heard Echo’s moan amplified off the tile walls and extended her tongue to push between the folds. She thrust with purpose, eyes open as she looked up to watch Echo respond to match. The orgasm was meant as reward and distraction, a memory for Echo to hold in her mind so strongly that it would transcend anything she might have seen or overheard in the apartment.

Echo didn’t hold off long. She rolled her hips forward away from the wall, her keening growing louder with each thrust of Joss’ tongue. Joss pulled her head back and pushed her fingers inside. The penetration finished Echo, her voice cutting off as her legs went rigid, her hands flat against the wall. Her thighs trembled so violently that it seemed as if all her energy was focused between her pelvis and her knees. Finally she reverently whispered Joss’ name and pushed her head away, her knees bending inward to protect the over-sensitive spot between her thighs from further stimulation. Joss stood up, the water cascading under her shirt and between her breasts. She slid her hands over Echo’s chest, up to the smooth column of her throat, and pressed her thumbs against the hollow where her collarbones met. 

Echo opened her eyes as Joss’ grip tightened and she mouthed, “Yes.”

Joss released her grip, but Echo reached up and kept her hands where they were. 

“Yes,” Echo said. “I like it. When you slapped me the other day?” She put her hands on Joss’ wrists. “Tighter.”

Joss squeezed, and Echo closed her eyes. Joss stepped closer and moved her leg between Echo’s thighs, forcing them apart. Echo sank down and tightened her thighs around Joss’. She rocked her lower body, lips parted as she sought air, her tongue poking out to sweep across her bottom lip briefly before she took it back into her mouth. Joss bent down and kissed Echo, covering her mouth and slackening her grip as she breathed into the young girl’s mouth. Echo breathed deeply and shuddered as she came again. She dug her fingernails into Joss’ arms, and Joss watched carefully to make sure they wouldn’t leave unexplainable red marks. 

She released Echo’s throat completely, and Echo gasped and coughed before sagging against Joss’ body. Joss accepted her weight, arms hooked under Echo’s. She pushed the girl back against the wall and watched the color return to her face. She pushed lank strands of blonde hair out of her face and slapped her once to make her eyes open.

“You did a good job tonight.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Joss pushed back the curtain and turned off the water. She took one of the towels out of a cubby next to the sink and dried off Echo’s body, but she let herself drip as she wrapped her arm around Echo’s and guided her into the bedroom. Echo followed obediently in Joss’ sopping footsteps, allowing herself to be lowered onto the bed and tucked in. Joss kissed Echo’s forehead, her closed eyes, and the corners of her mouth before she whispered, “If you can’t sleep let me know. I can give you something.”

“Okay.”

She stroked Echo’s wet hair and backed to the window. Her bag was slumped on the floor next to the chair and she stooped to take out a cigarette. She lit it and took a long drag, then looked out at the sleeping, fog-draped houses outside. Her blouse hung heavy off of her, the material clinging to her like flypaper. She crossed her arms, hands hooked on the opposite elbow, smoke rising from the cigarette in her right hand as if her left arm was on fire. From her vantage point it slanted seemingly straight south, an inexorable plummet toward the sea.

She knew she should text Myles to let him know the job was done, but at the moment it was all she could do to bring the cigarette to her mouth so she could take a drag. Her hesitation came from reluctance to admit her failure. She had frozen and, if Echo hadn’t been there to clean up the mess, the job would have been an utter disaster. It would have gone into her file, and her reputation would take a hit. The jobs would dry up.

Echo had saved her from making a horrible mistake, and Joss’ treatment of her in the shower was a form of atonement, of gratitude. She had gone to her knees and thanked her protege for doing what she didn’t have the strength to do, for reminding her of her purpose. Even if Echo’s incessant questioning had been the cause of Joss’ weakness, she had also made amends. That deserved a reward.

The silence of the town was broken by a siren sending its wail into the night like a banshee, echoed moment later by a response from the other side of the peninsula. Allworth’s body had been discovered, most likely by his lover. Joss closed her eyes as a curtain of smoke rose from her slightly-parted lips and pictured the scene, but it quickly mutated into a memory.

She saw herself pacing her dorm room, fretting and confused. It had been an age before cell phones, before texting, although Crystal had a pager. Joss didn’t have a phone in the room, and she felt as if leaving the room to use the payphone down the hall would be like admitting something really was wrong. So she had sat on the edge of her bed, looked out the window, and then held her breath as she answered the door to see her Resident Advisor standing with two uniformed policemen.

Things had come full circle. She had given Allworth a bit of hope, let him believe that things might work out, and then it had been ripped away from him in an instant. To an outside observer, to someone who wasn’t privy to Joss’ inner debate, the moment would have seemed inhumanly cruel. She took another drag off her cigarette and turned to look at Echo. She was asleep, bundled underneath the blankets with her knees drawn up to her chest.

History was repeating in more ways than one. She had just recreated the moment that put her on Myles’ radar from the other side, had relived the defining moment of her life from the position of bad guy. And now she was in the process of recreating Echo in her image. Hell, the name alone proved that she’d been priming a clone from the very beginning. She stubbed out the cigarette in a mug that was sitting next to the television then stripped out of her wet clothes. She left them on the floor and crawled under the blankets of Echo’s bed.

Echo stirred just barely as Joss spooned her from behind, one arm under the pillow and one draped over Echo’s hip. Echo made a quiet sound of approval and pressed back against Joss. Whether it was intentional or instinctual didn’t matter. Joss kissed the back of Echo’s head and drifted off to sleep.

#

They were facing each other when they woke, Echo’s lips against Joss’ neck and their arms wrapped around each other. Joss accepted the fact there had been some somnambulant sexsomnia and woke Echo with a soft kiss. They parted and sat on opposite sides of the bed to dress, then went out for an early-morning jog as had become their habit. The day was humid and overcast and they were dripping sweat by the time they reached Allworth’s apartment building. They slowed to observe the two police cars parked outside and two uniformed officers standing just inside the glass doors of the lobby.

Echo seemed anxious, but Joss shook her head slightly as she stopped running and looked up at the building. One of the officers finally noticed her and stepped outside.

“Sorry, ladies. You’ll have to go around.”

“Is everything okay? Is it safe?”

“Everything is fine, ma’am, we just need to keep this area clear.”

She waved and started jogging again, ever the obedient citizen. Echo caught up with her and ran by her side, exhaling sharply once they rounded the corner.

“That was so damn hot. Why was that so arousing?”

“Scene of the crime,” Joss said. “Looking the cops in the eye and knowing they don’t for a second suspect you. It’s thrilling to almost get caught. Just don’t be stupid about it. Don’t linger, don’t push your luck, and don’t taunt.”

Echo nodded. 

“When we get back to the hotel we’ll pack and head out. I’ll text Myles and he’ll arrange for us to fly home tonight. I’ll also mention the payment.”

“Same deal as before, right?”

Joss shook her head. “No. You did the legwork this time, and you completed the job. I was basically a support team this time around. So you get seventy-five percent and I’ll get your fee.”

Echo slowed but, when Joss kept running, sped up again so she wouldn’t get left behind.

“You don’t have to do that, Joss.”

“I do. You proved yourself worthy. I’m not being kind. I’m being fair.”

“I still appreciate it. And I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. When Myles first told me about this, I was so eager. But I didn’t know if I could really do it. You gave me the confidence. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

They reached the top of the incline where the slope evened out with a flat cross-street. Joss stopped on the corner, the stone retaining wall rising just above her head as she turned and looked back toward the water. She nodded with her chin.

“How far do you think it is to the bridge?”

“I don’t know. Three miles, maybe?”

Joss thought that sounded accurate. “Four miles, all downhill. If we run fast enough it might feel like we’re flying.” She winked at Echo and then took off running toward the bridge. Echo laughed and gave chase.

#

The drive back to Astoria was quiet and relaxed. Neither of them felt the need to speak, so they listened to the radio and watched the scenery pass by. Echo dozed for a while but couldn’t seem to stay asleep. She didn’t try to strike up conversation either, for which Joss was grateful. Myles had been understanding on the phone when she mentioned the swap in their pay agreement. It didn’t matter to him what cash went where, so long as they all agreed on the split. 

They were almost twenty miles outside of Portland when Joss’ phone rang. She looked down at the pocket it was in, looked back out at the road, and finally began fishing for it on the fifth or sixth ring. By the time it answered most other phones would have gone to voicemail, but Joss didn’t have it set up. Usually only Myles called, and their conversations were not the kind one wanted to be recorded for posterity. She stared at the screen for two more rings, then finally accepted the call. The rental car had a small suction cup on the dashboard and she hooked the phone onto it.

“I’m driving. What is it?”

Colin said, “I have a contract.”

She was stupefied for a moment, trying to figure out who in the world her husband would want to kill. Had he called Myles to set something up and then somehow Myles had forwarded the call directly to her? No. That wasn’t how it worked. In all her years on the job she had spoken directly with maybe four clients, and those were all emergency situations. 

Finally Colin laughed. “Well? Are you going to say anything? I mean, I was speechless for a little while, too.”

“Uh.” Joss blinked and realized he had sold a book. “Uh, congratulations.” She looked at Echo, who had turned her face away to look out the window and afford Joss a modicum of privacy. Joss reached over and put her free hand between Echo’s legs. The girl tensed, looked down, and then looked at Joss as she began to stroke. “That’s wonderful, dear. Which novel was it?”

“It’s a thriller, actually. You know, one cop goes up against a killer.”

Joss moved her hand faster. “Cop versus killer, huh? Sounds interesting.” Not to mention familiar. She couldn’t help but assume the lead character was female, petite, redheaded, and athletic. “Who wins?”

“Well, the cop of course. I mean, anti-heroes have had their day in the sun, but everyone likes it when the good guy prevails.”

“Good depends on the perspective.” 

Echo had a hand over her mouth, eyes squeezed shut. She lifted her hips off the car seat and pushed hard against Joss’ fingers.

“I suppose so. Anyway, my agent sent over an advance check. I figured since you’re coming home today, we could go out and celebrate. You, me, the kids. We could make a whole night out of it.”

“Sounds good. Sounds fun. It may have to be tomorrow, though, depending on when I get in. I may be too beat to do much of anything.”

Echo bit down hard on her finger as she came.

“Okay,” Colin said. “Tomorrow might even be better, you know, since I’m still kind of reeling. Might want to give it a day just so it feels real before I start spending it.”

“Makes sense.” Joss looked at Echo, who was crumpled in the passenger seat taking short sharp breaths through her mouth in an effort to catch her breath and stay silent. “Listen, I’m almost to the airport. The sooner I check in, the sooner I’ll be home and we can celebrate properly.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then. I love you.”

Joss held her hand under her nose and smelled her fingers. “I love you, too. See you tonight.” She switched off the phone, and Echo finally released the groan she’d been holding back. “Sorry. That was my husband. Sometimes I need a little something extra to sound cheerful when I talk to him.”

“No problem,” Echo whimpered. “Wanna call him back?”

Joss pursed her lips, chuckled, and then allowed herself a full-on smile. Echo chuckled and cursed under her breath, squirming in her seat as Joss entered Portland.

They turned in the rental car and entered the terminal. Joss stopped short of security and turned to face Echo. “You did a fantastic job on this mission, Echo. When we met, you showed promise. But you’re an amazing talent. Before long you won’t need me looking over your shoulder at all.”

Echo said, “Oh. In that case maybe I’ll start screwing up.” She winked, and then rocked forward on the ball of her foot. She kissed Joss’ lips, and Joss decided to let it happen. She parted her lips and tilted her head to the side, deepening the kiss as Echo’s tongue probed tentatively inside. When they parted Echo ran a thumb over her bottom lip and smiled like she’d just gotten away with something sneaky. She chuckled and said, “I’ll see you next time, Joss.”

“Sure.” She turned and started toward security. They had agreed she would check in first so Joss didn’t overhear her destination. Just before she was out of earshot, Joss had to ask one last thing. “Hey.” The girl turned and walked backwards. “What’s your real name?”

She smiled. “Echo. My name’s Echo.” She waved goodbye and turned around again. In a few seconds she was gone, absorbed by the crowd.


	10. Chapter 10

Joss lost nearly six hours flying home. Two and a half for the flight, another hour on either side at the airport, and two for flying across time zones. When she arrived in Pierre it was already dark out. She took her bags into the airport bathroom and looked at her reflection for a long time. She ran a comb through her hair, pulling it away from her head before using a paper towel to clean the product out of it. She let it hang limp as she undressed, draping her clothes on the sink. Other female passengers eyed her on their way to the stalls, but none of them questioned her bizarre behavior.

She watched Joss Kurtis disappear bit by bit, her sharp features blunted by hair and her makeup wiped away to leave her looking plainer, less noticeable. She traded her clothes for a white dress shirt and a purple sweater, lifting her chin so that she could arrange the collar of her undershirt over the scooped neck. She put on a bland tan skirt, nude pantyhose, and flats. Twenty-four hours after she held a gun in a man’s face and refused to pull the trigger, she was Jocelyn again.

As she walked to the long-term parking area, she thought about the mundane life waiting for her at home. She thought of running through the humid air of an Oregon morning with Echo, how it had felt more like living than anything she did in Pierre, and she felt the cool air close around her. She needed some sort of release, something to remind herself that she was still Joss even when she was wearing her Florence Henderson disguise. She thought back to her last respite at home, the days spent following Shannon Molloy, and a thought occurred to her. She knew exactly where Molloy would be. She threw her bags in the backseat of the car and resisted the urge to squeal the tires as she left the parking structure.

She drove into Pierre on the highway and turned into a neighborhood where the streets were named after animals. She found a road that was a long, wide stretch flanked on both sides by homes and shaded by tall trees. She was confident that headlights and taillights would alert her to danger in time to stop, so she sank her accelerator to the floor and the car surged forward. The speed limit was twenty-five, and she watched the needle tick up past fifty. It was just about to touch sixty when the red and blue lights appeared in her rear view. 

Jocelyn slowed down quickly and pulled to the shoulder, and the cop parked right behind her. She kept her hands on the steering wheel but eyed the bag sitting on the passenger seat. Her gun was in it, easily accessible. She could mimic reaching for her registration, then come up with the gun and unload a few rounds in the cop’s face. The whole thing would be over in seconds, and Joss would speed off, leaving her to be discovered dead in the street. She had once vowed to never kill for free, but sometimes she needed to do something fun just for herself.

Officer Shannon Molloy stopped next to Jocelyn’s window. “Evening. I pulled you over because you were speeding. License and registration, please.”

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry. Here you are.” 

Jocelyn handed the papers over. Shannon looked gorgeous in her uniform, the heavy belt tight around her bell-shaped waist, the badge shining high on her left breast. Her hair was braided tight without a strand touching her neck, and the brim of her hat was so low that her eyes were nearly lost in shadow. Jocelyn watched her face carefully and knew the moment she realized who she had pulled over. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to prevent from smirking; she nearly drew blood.

“I’ve been out of town,” Jocelyn said, “and I was eager to get home. See my kids and my husband.” She let her eyes drift off Shannon’s face to the darkness across the street. “I’ve been terrible to him. Neglectful. I have to travel for my work, so I’m always going here, flying there. And when I’m home I’m too exhausted to give him the attention he deserves.” She felt tears welling up in her eyes and bit her cheek harder. “Sorry. I’m not being the woman who cries to get out of a ticket, I swear. I know I was speeding. If I lived in this neighborhood, I’d be hollering for you to throw the book at me. I’ll take my punishment.”

She flashed to a memory of Echo in the shower, lips parted and gasping for air, and she pushed it aside.

Shannon seemed to find her voice. “I’ll be right back. Sit tight.”

“Yes, ma’am. Of course.”

Shannon walked back to her cruiser and Jocelyn tilted her head to watch her rear end in the side mirror. Her husband had taste, she had to give him that. She wondered how often he and Shannon had met up during the past few days. How many times had Colin slid down those uniform pants and put his cock inside of her? Did she suck him off? God knows he was always trying to get Jocelyn to provide that service for him; maybe his mistress was more accommodating. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and tried to look in the rearview without adjusting her head’s position.

Shannon was sitting behind the wheel of her cruiser, looking down so Jocelyn couldn’t see her face. After what seemed like an eternity the cruiser door swung open again and Shannon walked back up to Jocelyn’s window. The gun remained at arm’s length, tucked innocently into her bag. Loaded. Ready. She wouldn’t grab for it; that would ruin the fun. She had set the encounter up so Shannon and Colin would have to squirm. But she liked knowing the possibility existed. 

Her driver’s license was returned along with the registration. “Look... it’s been a slow night, and you’re just trying to get home. Remember this next time and, uh, slow down, and we’ll consider it a teachable moment, all right?”

Jocelyn feigned shock. “A-are you sure? Look, earlier, I was just angry at myself. I didn’t--”

“It’s my good deed for the night. Just be more careful and obey the posted speed limit. He’ll still be there if you get home five minutes later, but if you flip the car... well.” She shrugged. “It’s not worth the risk, you know? So drive safely.”

“Thanks, Officer.”

Shannon returned to her car, and Jocelyn pulled away from the curb. She turned toward home and watched as the cruiser used a driveway to turn around so she could resume her position. 

Jocelyn drove home and parked next to Colin’s car. She took her bags from the backseat and carried them in through the garage. Colin was in the kitchen and looked over his shoulder as she came in. He grinned. “Hey, there she is.”

“Sorry. I got pulled over by this bitch cop. She said I was speeding.” She grumbled and put her hands in the small of her back, twisting one way then the other. “Sorry. I don’t want to put a damper on your big celebration.” She squeezed his shoulders and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “I’m proud of you for selling your book. “I’m not going to let some little leprechaun get in the way of our night.”

Colin laughed. “Leprechaun?”

“Redheaded twerp. Named, um, Mallory or something. No. Molloy.” She had turned away from him to look in the fridge. She regretted that she couldn’t see his expression, but if she’d been staring it would give away the fact she was expecting a reaction. “Did you and the kids finish off that chicken salad that was in here?”

He was quiet for a long moment before he finally found his voice and answered. “Yeah. Maddie was worried it would go bad before you got home so she went ahead and finished it.”

“Oh. Okay. Have you had dinner?”

“I ate something a while ago, but I could whip something up for you if you’re hungry.”

She took a protein shake out of the fridge and held it up. “I think I’ll just have this and grab a snack later.” She managed a chipper, cheerful voice as she sat on a stool across the counter from him. “So tell me about the book you sold! Cop versus killer? Sounds really intriguing.” _Derivative, mundane, ho-hum, like a thousand other books on the shelf._ “What are some of the details?”

“Well, it takes place here in Pierre...”

_Of course it does. God forbid you expand your thinking even a little._

“...and the hero, well, heroine is a uniformed patrol, uh, patrol cop. Monica McBride.”

 _Dear lord._ She couldn’t let that go without comment so she smirked. “Kind of sounds like the leprechaun who pulled me over. Did she grab you, too? Huh? She catch you being naughty, Colin?”

He looked down at the dish he was scrubbing with an unconvincing smile on his face. “No, I just thought it would look good on the cover. Irish means red hair, green eyes, freckles. Guys like that.”

“Looks nothing like me, but okay.”

“I didn’t say it was for me. Just, you know. Guys in general.”

“Uh-huh. So there’s a cop and she finds a killer?”

Colin said, “Well, there’s a series of murders, and she always ends up at the crime scenes. Directing traffic, doing door-to-door stuff, just meaningless stuff. Basically standing outside while the crime-scene guys and detectives do all the work inside. After a few crime scenes she starts noticing a pattern. She realizes they’re all being committed by the same person. So she starts investigating on her own and tries to find out who it is.”

“Huh. Who turns out to be the killer?”

“I don’t really know yet.”

“You need to make it someone the reader will never expect. You need a surprise twist when the killer shows up.”

Colin said, “What kind of twist?”

“Everyone expects the psychotic guy, the creeper living in the basement. Maybe the killer is a woman. Hiding in plain sight, with a family and a job. Someone nobody would ever expect.”

Colin laughed. “I’m not going to make you the killer, Jocelyn.”

_Why not? You made your mistress the hero of the damn story. If you don’t have the balls to snuff me out in real life, why not do it on paper?_

“I wasn’t suggesting myself. Lois Keller.”

Colin laughed again, harder this time. “You think ol’ Lois is a serial killer, huh?”

“Trust me, get stuck in a conversation with her, you’ll see how deadly that bitch is.” She finished her drink and gestured with her head. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

“All right.”

She went upstairs, regretting the days when one could listen in on phone calls just by picking up an extension. In some ways phones were infinitely less secure now, but in this one way she felt crippled by the advance of technology. She had no doubt that Colin was on the phone with Shannon, who was probably sitting in her cruiser waiting for the call. They would discuss what had happened during the traffic stop, if there was any reason to panic, and so on and so forth. She undressed and turned on the shower. The sound brought back memories of the last shower she had taken, still feeling Echo’s skin against her own. She’d been home for ten minutes and she was already itching for the next trip away.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact Echo had pulled the trigger. Jocelyn wasn’t used to coming back from a trip without adding a notch to her gun barrel. She was still at ninety-three kills, still seven away from her goal of one hundred. She didn’t know what would happen then, if she would roll over the counter or just keep counting with one-hundred-and-one. She certainly wasn’t going to retire. She couldn’t stand only having a mundane life. Maybe once she hit triple digits she would divorce Colin, leave him his badged bunny, and disappear. She could live as Joss Kurtis again knowing she had made the world better for one hundred clients. 

She held her hand under the water of the shower spray and then stepped into the stall. She didn’t have to make a decision yet. She still had seven deaths to make happen. At the rate she’d been going she wouldn’t reach the magic number for another couple of months. She just had to make sure she never froze again.

#

That night Colin expected a celebration of his book selling, and Jocelyn arrived too late for dinner. So when the kids were in bed, she settled on his lap in the living room. The overhead lights were off, and they were both turned blue by the television’s light. She had put on a skirt after her shower in anticipation of this celebration, and Colin’s hands were under her blouse as she slowly rose and fell on him. He wasn’t wearing a condom but she forced herself not to think of the accidents that led to Madison and Thomas. She would just have to make sure he wasn’t still inside of her when he finished.

She bent down and whispered in his ear that she wanted to put him in her mouth. He never refused that, and when the time came she climbed off and bowed. She couldn’t help but feel ridiculous as she did it, fighting a grimace at the taste. It was the lesser of two evils, however. There was no way she could get pregnant, and this manner of completion meant there was much less to clean up. She forced herself to swallow and sat up, touching her wrist to the corner of her mouth to make sure it was all disposed of. 

“Whew. Haven’t done that for a while,” he said as she tucked him back into his pants and fastened the belt. 

“Special occasions require special nights. Besides, I miss you when I’m away.”

Colin said, “Do you?”

Jocelyn looked at him, still on her knees at his feet like a harem girl. “Of course I do, Colin. Everything I do, every time I go away, it’s for the family.”

He stroked her hair. “You’ve been at it for nearly twenty years, though. Maybe it’s time for you to move up in the company. You could be the one sending people flying all over the country while you’re sitting here at home, coming back to your family every night at a reasonable hour.”

She ran her hand up the inside of his thigh. “Maybe if you’d sold more than one book in two decades I could afford to take the pay-cut.”

Colin rolled his eyes and dropped his head back. “Of course. Yeah. Didn’t take long to get back to that, did it?”

“Come on, Colin. It’s a fact. You’re the one who brought up the fact I’m working too much, and you’re the reason I’m working so much. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here. How is the woman who just sucked your cock the bad guy?”

He put his hands on her shoulders and eased her back so he could stand up. “Yeah, Joss. You’re the hero.”

“God. Please. I’ve told you a thousand times. Don’t call me Joss.” _That name doesn’t belong to you._

He started out of the room then turned to face her. “You know, maybe you have a point. About the book. No one would ever suspect a woman like you as the killer, but it would be realistic. Everyone who has met you would believe you could be a total heartless bitch when you want to be.”

He walked away and Jocelyn dropped to her ass on the floor, resting her elbow on the seat of the chair that was still warm from Colin’s body heat. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked at the TV as if it held the answers.

Sometimes it seemed as if she couldn’t win for losing.


	11. Chapter 11

Jocelyn claimed she wanted to work from home the next day, too exhausted from the trip and wary of the family celebration that loomed in the evening to even pretend going to work. Unfortunately that meant sharing space with Colin, who was now under pressure to polish up and finish his novel. His need for focus, and their argument from the night before, meant that Colin was avoiding her as studiously as she avoided him. She cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed, did a load of laundry, and jogged around the neighborhood in the morning and again in the early afternoon before the school busses started running. She kept circling back to Echo, wondering where she was and what her “real life” consisted of. Was she still in college? Did she have friends? How did she explain her lengthy absences? Was she currently buzzing with the secret that she’d taken a life?

Jocelyn thought about her first kill. Greta assured her she was ready and took on a supervisory role on the job. Jocelyn did everything herself, from tracking the target’s schedule to staking out his house. She remembered discovering how easy it was to lower a man’s guard. Some of them found her pretty, others thought she was plain, but they all agreed she was a woman and therefore non-threatening. The first man she killed for money invited her into his house without even knowing her name. She slit his throat and left him bleeding out on the kitchen tile. 

Afterward Greta congratulated her on a job well done, critiqued a few of the things she’d done wrong, and promised her that the next time she would do even better.

She didn’t work alone until her fifth assignment. She remembered feeling handicapped without Greta by her side, but she also knew it was the only logical step. A two-person hit team simply wasn’t feasible, and Myles would never send two people on a single job simply because the airfare bit into his profits. So Jocelyn, as Joss, flew to Manhattan. A detective was sniffing around a gambling ring and kept trying to turn loyal lieutenants into snitches. He met Joss Kurtis at a cop bar where she pretended to be what the other cops called a “badge bunny.” She admitted she was a civilian who loved being with cops. On Monday she fucked a Homicide cop from one precinct. Tuesday she gave a blowjob to a captain nearing retirement. On Wednesday she and a female sex-crimes cop did a highly seductive dance for the enjoyment of the entire barroom and did things in private that the smoke-voiced detective warned she might have arrested another person for. 

On Thursday she seduced her target. She asked him to take her home, then stabbed him once his clothes were off. She undressed, cracked the side of her head against the bedroom door, and waited to be discovered. She had known the cops would remember a woman who appeared out of nowhere, acted like a slut, and then vanished the same night Jimmy Reed got killed. She woke up and hyperventilated so she would sound appropriately breathless before she called the homicide cop with whom she’d started her spree. She told him about the sex crimes cop she’d gone down on, and they both arrived inside of half an hour.

Homicide examined the bedroom while Sex Crimes comforted Joss in the living room. She was trembling, wide-eyed and taciturn. Homicide knew Jimmy and called one of his buddies. They both suspected a hit man hired by the gambling ring he’d been investigating. “It would explain why he left her alive,” the Homicide cop whispered. “Hit men don’t like killing for free.”

Joss, who had been pretending to be having an out-of-body experience, turned the words over and over in her mind until they stuck. _I don’t kill for free._

Sex Crimes drove her home, or rather to the brownstone where she said she lived. She promised to call if she needed anything or needed someone to stay with her. Joss had kissed her, got out of the car, and went into the building. She walked straight through to the back exit, entered the alley, and went back to where she had parked so she could fly back home.

Two months later, she saw on the news that the ringleader had been arrested after all. He was charged with hiring someone to kill Jimmy Reed, but Joss wasn’t concerned. Her job wasn’t to protect her clients; she was employed to end a life, and that was all she was obliged to do. She had minor concerns the ringleader might offer information in exchange for a lighter sentence. She didn’t know what would happen in that event. She was at the bottom of the chain, and Myles was directly above her, but how many layers existed between him and the person who received the first call?

She asked Myles the next time she saw him, and he’d only smiled. “You never have to worry about that.”

“I do worry about it.”

“Let me put it this way, kitten. If the cops catch up with me, I’m going down without a doubt. And I’m not strong enough to survive in prison, so there’s no way I’m going there for even one day.”

“So you’ll take their deal?”

“So I’ll take a bullet when they close in. They surround the house and I say adios. The trail ends with me. Always has and always will. Don’t you worry about it.”

Jocelyn showered off her afternoon jog and dressed casually in a T-shirt and sweats. As she came downstairs, a gust of cold air raced through the front hall as Madison came in. She was wearing the same puffy blue jacket she’d had for the past two years, and she smiled when she saw her mother on the stairs. Jocelyn didn’t return the smile, and gestured when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Where’s your leather jacket?”

“Upstairs.”

“It’s freezing out there. Isn’t it warm enough?”

Madison shrugged. “Yeah. I’m just... I don’t want anything to happen to it at school. I don’t want it to get snow on it and stuff.”

“Then what the fuck was the point in buying it at all?”

Madison flinched. “I... I don’t know. I wore it when I went to the movies the other night. It wasn’t supposed to snow that night, so...”

Jocelyn shook her head. “Whatever. I’m sure the other clothes in your closet are very impressed with it. I’m glad I spent three hundred dollars so you could hang it next to your sweater all season.”

Madison shoved past her with a muttered and tearful, “...you can be such a bitch.”

Jocelyn glared at the girl’s back, decided to let the comment go, and went into the living room. Colin emerged from his nook, hands in his pockets.

“Little rough on her, don’t you think?”

“Little ungrateful of her, don’t you think?” she snapped back.

Colin sighed. “Are we really going to fight today? I can call the restaurant and cancel the reservation if you’re going to be like this.”

“No. Don’t cancel. I’m just... fuck.” She pushed her hair out of her face. “I need to get out of the house for a few hours. I’ll be back in time for dinner. I promise.”

“Fine, listen. While you’re going out anyway...”

She ignored him as she went back upstairs to change clothes again. She drove to Shannon Molloy’s house and parked across the street, staring at the intersection ahead. She knew why she was so anxious. She had gone on a trip, she’d prepared, she laid in wait, and then someone else had taken the money shot away from her. She didn’t blame Echo; if she hadn’t done it the job wouldn’t have gotten done. Still, she lacked resolution. She needed her fix.

She drove away from the cop’s house before she did something she would regret. She drove to the marina and passed it, soon passing the police station as she inadvertently followed Shannon’s typical route through town. When she realized what she was doing she went to the grocery store. It was Friday morning, so the parking lot was practically empty when she parked at the far end and pressed her head back against the seat. After a long moment she reached for her phone and dialed Myles’ number.

“Look who it is.”

“I need a job, Myles.”

He paused. “You just got back from a job.”

“A job someone else finished for me. I’ve got blue balls over here, Myles. You gotta help me out. Anything on the radar?”

“Hm. Well, there’s a job that I wasn’t considering for because I know you don’t like to shit where you eat. But a certain elected official in your government has a certain lady in his life with certain--”

Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “He fucked someone and she’s threatening to go public with pictures?”

“Basically. They tried to go the standard bribery route, and she recorded him making the offer for extra leverage. Can you believe it? Some people. Anyway, his advisors have assured him that all standard routes have been exhausted and there’s only one way to keep her quiet.”

“Email me her details.”

“You know I don’t like doing that.”

Jocelyn closed her eyes. “Okay, what, I’m supposed to fly out so I can turn around and meet you at the airport? Just send me the goddamn information, Myles.”

She hung up and accessed her email on her phone. Thirty seconds later a new email arrived. Within was a name, an address, and a picture of her target. She memorized it then sent the message to Spam. She used her phone to find the address, scrolling rather than letting the phone search for her. She didn’t want to leave any kind of digital trail beyond the initial message and phone call. She knew the address, and the face of her target even looked vaguely familiar in the “seen her once or twice around town” sort of way.

She parked a few blocks away, adding her car to the rows of others congesting the street next to a weed-choked lot where parents were watching their kids flail around a baseball diamond. It seemed rather late in the season, but she was grateful for the camouflage. She walked swiftly past the gathering and into the neighborhood, flipping her hood up. The day was overcast and had been threatening rain, snow, or both all day so she didn’t look out of place as she sought out her hometown victim.

The house was set into a hill and crowded on both sides by its neighbors. The front of the house only revealed two garage doors on the ground level with what seemed like a bedroom window above them. Jocelyn wore gloves, also forgivable given the weather, and used the walkway to approach the side door. It was perfect, hidden from the street by a bush, and Jocelyn felt a buzz as she knocked.

“Just a minute.” Jocelyn flexed and relaxed her hands rocked her head from side to side to loosen the tendons of her neck, almost bouncing on her feet as she waited. Finally she saw movement through the curtain and the door swung open.

Hailey Church was a gorgeous brunette, wearing only a sports bra and a pair of Lycra shorts. Her exposed stomach and upper chest were beaded with sweat, and she was breathing heavily. Jocelyn could hear music from an exercise video coming from the living room and she put on a shaky smile. 

“Hi. Sorry to bother you. But I think my friend Sara just came in here.”

“In here?”

“Yeah, I saw her walking down the street and I tried to catch up to say hi, but she came in here before I could.”

Hailey tilted her head to the side. “Sorry, maybe it was the neighbor’s house. There’s no one here but me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.”

Jocelyn stepped over the threshold and closed her hands around Hailey Church’s neck. The woman’s eyes widened in shock, fear, and finally understanding as she was propelled backward. She hit the wall hard enough to make the frames rattle, her hands up to alternately slap and scratch at Jocelyn’s arms. Jocelyn was still wearing her jacket and sweater, so she barely even felt the attack. She bared her teeth as she tightened her grip, bearing down until Hailey was on her knees gazing up with one last plea. Her mouth was open, gasping for air, but her eyes finally went unfocused and her tongue pressed out past her bottom teeth in an almost comical display of asphyxiation.

The jazzy beat continued to pound from the other room. Hailey’s shoulders gave a sudden violent twitch, her brain’s futile final attempt to save itself. Finally both arms dropped, her head lolled, and Jocelyn released her. The body collapsed against the wall, hands at its sides with the palms turned upward. Her chin pressed against her chest, her knees slightly bent from her final throes.

Jocelyn stood over the woman’s body and shuddered, skin tingling as she sucked in deep a lungsful of air. It was like sinking into a warm bath at the end of a long day, taking off her high heels and sinking her feet into the thick carpeting. The coiled tension running from her throat to pelvis unwound and left her feeling lighter than air, and she flexed her hands again as if to let the blood flow back into them. Her ninety-fourth kill was, at long last, complete.

She turned to leave and, as she did, she spotted a yellow-and-brown photograph magneted to the fridge. It showed an elven face with tightly closed eyes and a small curled fist pressed against its chubby cheek. She understood that the woman hadn’t been threatening her political lover with pictures, but something much harder to live down. She flashed back to the images she had gotten, pictures of Madison and Thomas in her womb. They hadn’t been as crisp or detailed as this one, but she still remembered it clearly. 

After a moment she moved on, walking out the door and closing it behind her. She cut through Hailey Church’s backyard to the next street over, found an alternate route back to where she had parked. The parents at the baseball game had decided it was too cold to continue and were ushering their children into cars. Jocelyn joined in their exodus, accepting the stop-and-go traffic as a necessary consequence of remaining unnoticed.

When she was back on the main road, she called Myles. “Problem?”

“It’s done,” she said.

“Wow. You always work fast, but I think Pizza Hut could learn a few things from you.”

Jocelyn said, “You didn’t tell me she was pregnant.”

A long silence. “Does that matter?”

“Hell yes, it matters!”

“All right, calm down. I never said she wasn’t. You said pictures, and... really, she just showed him the sonogram and said the kid was his. So technically she was blackmailing him with pictures. Just not the kind you imagined.”

“Cut the bullshit, Myles. You know what this means.”

He sighed. “You know, religions have debated for years whether or not a fetus counts as a human life.”

“The only god here is green with numbers on his back. I killed one person and I kept another from living. I want a bonus.”

“What, you want double just because she was knocked up?”

“No one said double. Twenty-five percent.”

“Ha! Ten percent. That is generously coming out of my end because I approve of your punctuality in the matter.”

“Twenty percent. You didn’t have to pay for a plane ticket or lodgings. You came out ahead on this one, Myles. You owe me. I came to you, I took this off your plate. Or do you have a lot of killers out there willing to kill a woman? Let alone a pregnant one? And a politician stopping a scandal in its tracks during an election year? Oh, baby. I think even with seventy-five percent you’re making out like a bandit. I want what the job was worth.”

Silence from his end, and then finally, “All right. You drive a hard bargain, Joss. The money will be wired to you tonight.”

“Appreciated.”

She hung up and drove the rest of the way home. She felt intoxicated as she parked and stuffed her gloves into her jacket pocket. She went inside and hung her jacket on the peg, then went straight upstairs. She knocked lightly on Madison’s bedroom door and went in without waiting for her to acknowledge it. Madison was lying on her side in the bed, propped up on one elbow as she texted. She turned the phone face-down and stuffed it under her pillow, turning her face away.

“Hey. I wanted to apologize.” Madison looked up at that. “I was completely out of line. You just want to take care of your jacket because you like it so much. I’m just... ugh.” She jutted out her lower jaw and rolled her eyes back, unconsciously mimicking Hailey Church’s final expression. “You know how it is. Sometimes we just snap and we don’t think about who is getting hit with the shrapnel.”

“Yeah. I mean, I guess you paid a lot for it.” She sat up and crossed her legs in front of her. Jocelyn sat on the bed next to her. “I guess it would have made me mad, too, if I’d bought something for you and then it looked like you weren’t appreciating it.”

“I’m glad you understand. Did your Dad tell you we were going out for dinner tonight? We’re celebrating the big news.”

“Yeah. I think I’ll wear my jacket.”

Jocelyn smiled. “Only if you want to.” She kissed her daughter’s eyebrow. “Go ahead and get ready. I’ll see if Thomas is ready. Have you seen him?”

Madison said, “Daddy said you went to pick him up from school.”

Jocelyn vaguely remembered him asking her to do something while she was out. The sun was nearly down, and the temperature had plummeted. She envisioned her son (how old was he again? Little, she knew that) standing outside in his coat waiting for someone to come pick him up. She cursed under her breath and hurried out of Madison’s bedroom. She went downstairs and spotted Colin sitting in his nook lit by the glow of the computer.

“Really?” she said. “The one fucking task that gets you out of the house, and you off-handedly shove it off on me? You can’t get off your ass for five seconds--”

She trailed off when she saw Thomas was sitting on Colin’s lap and they were playing a game together on the computer. Or they had, before Mommy came in saying bad words and yelling at Daddy. Colin waited to make sure she was done before he spoke.

“Miss Rice saw him waiting, brought him home with Jennifer. Wasn’t that nice of her?”

Jocelyn said, “I forgot.”

“Obviously.” He kissed the boy’s head. “Run upstairs, Tommy. Go get ready for dinner.” He complied, and Colin stood up. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“You forgot to pick up your son.”

“He made it home, didn’t he?”

He laughed incredulously and shook his head. “You are unbelievable, Jocelyn. You really are. You left your son standing out there in freezing weather--”

“It’s barely below sixty, for Christ’s sake. Don’t blow things out of proportion.”

“--and then you storm in here acting as if it’s my fault. As if I have something to apologize for.”

“Congratulations, Colin. For once, you are entirely blameless. For once you were supposed to be doing nothing and I, once again, was in charge of making sure something got done. I’m sick of carrying this family.”

“Maybe I’m sick of being used and unappreciated.”

Jocelyn took a step forward. “You want to try raising our kids on a cop’s salary, you go right ahead. But the second she gets bored with you--”

“Cop?”

She froze, then decided it didn’t matter. “That’s right. Officer Molloy. She’s cute, but I don’t think she’s quite ready to be a stepmommy. So man up and accept your role around here.” She turned and stalked toward the stairs, then decided to lob one more grenade his way. “Oh, and keep the cop around. The more she fucks you, the less I have to.”

When she went into the master bedroom she sagged against the door and closed her eyes. So much for the shot to the arm Hailey Church’s death was supposed to bring her, so much for bringing peace to the family to float her until the next official job called her away. She shook her head and started getting dressed for what was certain to be an incredibly tense dinner.

Outside she heard sirens as the Pierre Police Department was alerted to someone discovering Hailey Church’s body.


	12. Chapter 12

The family went out to dinner, as promised, and Jocelyn managed to put on a show for the children. It was hardly any different than the act she normally pulled when she was home. Just smile, say nice things, and act as if any goddamn thing they said was fascinating. She sometimes drugged herself just to get through the night, but she knew there would be champagne or some kind of alcohol, and she didn’t want the two mixing. Madison wore her leather jacket, and Jocelyn made a point of saying how good it looked on her. By the end of the evening Jocelyn thought that even Colin had been mollified by her act. They laughed over desserts, and she surprised him by offering up a toast to his “bestseller in waiting, and many more to come.” They laughed and joked, they irritated other diners with their revelry, and then they piled into the car and drove back home just as the sleet started to fall.

Madison and Thomas went inside, while Jocelyn and Colin lingered by the car. The engine cooled between them, tellingly symbolic as the jovial mood faded as soon as the kids were out of earshot. Colin looked up at the sky, and then looked at Jocelyn as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

“I’m going to go.”

“If you’re not planning to come back, you should take the kids with you.”

Colin sighed. “I’m not taking the kids away from you.”

“I don’t want them.” She said it casually, without rancor, as she squinted up into the falling icy rain. The sky was thick with cotton clouds.

When she looked back at him, he was staring at her. “Sometimes I look at you, and I get this ice-cold feeling right in the middle of my chest. It baffles me how you can be so...” He struggled for words.

Jocelyn laughed. “Some writer.”

“I’ll be back in the morning. I’m going to go share my good news with someone who will actually appreciate it. Who would actually appreciate the things I do around here.”

“You are a wonderful babysitter.”

“Fuck you, Joss.”

She resisted the urge to round the car and slam his head against the side mirror. “I told you not to call me that.”

“No, it’s perfect for you,” he said as he climbed back behind the wheel. “It’s sibilant. It’s like a hiss, like a fucking snake. That’s you to a T, Joss.”

She stepped away from the car as he started the engine, then watched as he backed out of the driveway. She tugged the jacket closed and went inside. Madison was standing in the foyer, but Jocelyn couldn’t tell if she had heard anything.

“Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s going to keep on celebrating a little bit. It’s okay. I’ll be here.” She locked the door behind her and looked toward the stairs. “How old is Thomas? Do I still have to give him a bath?”

“No, he takes baths on his own now. But you have to tell him. And you have to rub his toothbrush to make sure it’s wet. Sometimes he just runs it under the sink faucet so you have to be sure he really did it. Was Daddy mad?”

“No. Go on upstairs.”

“Can I go on the internet?”

“What? Of course.”

Madison smiled. “Cool. Night.”

The girl went upstairs and Madison took off her jacket and draped it over the banister. She eyed Colin’s computer, which was still on stand-by, and crossed the room to sit in his chair. She typed in the password and opened a browser. She held her hand over the keyboard as she debated what she wanted to search for. She chewed her bottom lip and closed her eyes as she considered the facts. She knew that she rarely had to wait long for Echo. She had arrived in Portland not long behind Joss, and Myles mentioned her flight was delayed. The first time they worked together she’d also arrived right behind Joss. There was a chance Myles had called her first so she was already in the air when Joss left, but it didn’t seem likely. He could also have been lying about the flight being delayed when actually it just took her longer to reach the destination. If Joss had been forced to suffer a connection while Echo had a direct flight, it could mean she arrived earlier even if she had to travel farther.

She scooted her chair forward. Wherever she was coming from, she would have to start in the Midwest. If she was from the west coast she wouldn’t have flown to Portland, and if she was from the east coast Jocelyn would have been waiting hours for her even if it was a non-stop flight. She thought about the clues Echo had given her. On their first job, she’d worn an inside-out shirt with her city’s name on the front. How many Midwest cities emblazoned their name on T-shirts?

Well, to be fair, probably a lot. But Chicago seemed like the most likely place to start her search. She typed “psychiatrist murder Chicago.” She narrowed the search down by adding the month, guesstimating that it occurred within a few days of Echo’s appearance in the Newark airport. Jocelyn had been introduced to Greta inside a month of killing the rapist, so it stood to reason Myles worked just as quickly with her. She got a few hits before she found an old news post about a psychiatrist that was found dead in his office after a meeting with a patient.

The official story was that he made a sexual advance on the patient - a young woman whose name was being withheld for her own protection - and she retaliated in self-defense. Jocelyn searched for more information on the murder but the patient’s name was always left out. She was identified only as Jane Doe and seemed to be the only person in the modern world capable of avoiding a reporter’s camera. Still, Jocelyn knew it had to be Echo.

She did another search for an unsolved murder in the Chicago area, a man found choked to death in an alley near his home. She narrowed the search down until she found an article from Waukegan, Illinois, that seemed to match the story Echo had told her in Portland. She found the White Pages online and searched for Barrett. Over one hundred results were returned, but she didn’t bother to look at the first names. She stared at the page for a long moment knowing that Echo’s name was on it somewhere. A few years earlier it would have been impossible to get this close to her. God bless the internet.

When she finally spilled her secrets to Greta, it had been on her own terms. There hadn’t been much to reveal; she was still Jocelyn Kurtis at the time even in her real life, and her home had been the cheapest apartment she could find after dropping out of college. She didn’t have any secrets to hide, but she’d let Greta have everything. Greta had become like a mother to her in the traditional sense. Her own mother had been hardly maternal.

Movement from the corner of her eye broke her reverie, and she turned to look at the boy. Thomas. He was still wearing the clothes Colin had dressed him in for their night out, but his hair was mussed. He had taken off his shoes, and one sock was almost all the way off and trailing under his foot like a strip of toilet paper. 

“Have you taken your bath yet?”

He shook his head.

Perhaps it was simply boredom, or maybe it had been thoughts of her own mother, but Jocelyn decided to do more than just send him up for Madison to deal with. She stood up and took his hand. He let her lead her upstairs, and she escorted him into the bathroom so she could watch him brush his teeth. She leaned against the counter with her back to the mirror, arms crossed, and listened to him swish the brush back and forth. He leaned forward to spit, but she snapped her fingers.

“Back teeth.”

He brushed again, then spit out the froth. 

“Good boy. Take your bath. I’ll be in to tuck you in when you’re finished.”

She left him in the bathroom and knocked on Madison’s door. When she was granted entrance she stuck her head in and saw she was working on her laptop. “Bed by eleven o’clock. Is that about right?”

“Yeah, about.”

Judging by her smile ten-thirty was more common, but Jocelyn didn’t mind. Colin made the rule and if he wanted them enforced then he could pull out of his mistress long enough to make sure the kids were in bed on time. She closed the door and went into the master bedroom. She took off her shoes and stretched out in the middle of the bed, crossing her feet at the ankles as she turned on the television.

She could do the domestic thing. She could fake it with the best of them; hell, half the bitches in the PTA were probably faking. When Thomas called for her, she got up and went into the bathroom and walked him to bed. She offered to read him a story, but he said he was too tired. She sat on the edge of his bed and looked around the room as if she was trying to figure out the purpose of it. 

“I had a room like this once,” she said idly. “The walls were purple, though. I had a little ledge I could climb out onto. It was steep but I was careful.”

“Why’d you go on the roof?”

“Because they never looked for me on the roof,” she said softly. She looked down at him and smoothed down his hair. It was still wet from the bath, and she smiled. “You about ready to go to sleep?” He nodded and she tucked the blankets up around his head. “Comfy? Okay. You call me if you need anything. Glass of water?” He shook his head. “Okay. Good night.” She bent down and kissed his forehead. “Night, pumpkin.”

She left the nightlight on when she closed the door. She could hear Madison speaking through her bedroom door, and the weird flat buzz of a reply coming from her computer’s speakers. She remembered when she was a teenager and the only communication with the outside world was a clunky phone that sat on a table next to the couch, right beside her father’s arm so there was no way anyone else could answer it first. Then she had to stand directly behind him to speak with anyone who called for her.

_”You know what that boy wants from you, don’t you?”_

_“Yes, Daddy.”_

_“Tell me.”_

And then she had to tell her father what she thought the cute boy from Science class wanted to do with her. Generalities weren’t good enough; she had to be specific. By the time he finally let her retreat to her room, she wanted to forget the whole thing had ever happened. It didn’t matter than she would have rather been kept after class by the teacher, Miss Whittaker, she still felt filthy for being the girl boys were calling. And she wasn’t about to tell her father about her feelings for girls to give him more ammunition for his crude mind games. 

She was a good mother, when she wanted to be. When she tried. That was better than real parents who refused to try for no good reason.

Jocelyn returned to the bedroom and undressed, choosing a loose T-shirt to wear as the late edition of the news came on. She wanted to rest her eyes; domesticity was almost more exhausting than plotting to kill someone. She was weary and exhausted from the whole dance, but she’d done it. She was nearly asleep when a “breaking news” story came on and she absorbed the information with half an ear.

“--a frantic 911 call from a woman who hadn’t been able to get in touch with her sister made a gruesome discovery this evening. Twenty-nine-year old Hailey Church was found dead in the kitchen of her home by the officers. Church had been making a splash in certain circles recently for an alleged affair with Lieutenant Governor Stapp. Stapp, as you’ll recall, is planning a run for the governorship...”

She idly wondered if he’d thought at all about the baby being undeniable evidence of the affair even if Hailey Church was dead. The Medical Examiner’s office would do an examination and then a DNA test. The media would theorize he had killed her when he found out about the pregnancy, and he would be crucified in the media long before the election. There was no way he would be their next governor. Even after all these years it never ceased to amaze her how their clients could so effortlessly shoot themselves in the foot by killing their problems.

It didn’t matter to her, either way. So long as their check cleared before karma caught up with them, she didn’t give a shit what karma threw at them.

#

The Christmas season loomed, and Joss was prepared for a long dry spell without being called for a job. People stuck things out through the holidays, despite the myth suicide rates rose during the winter months. Christmas and New Year was a bad season for the murder industry. Jocelyn was prepared to go at least two months without a job, although the thought of spending all that time with Colin and without seeing Echo made her feel constricted. 

She went for long jogs to reacquaint herself with the neighborhood and so she would still be in fighting form when the calls started coming in again. She decorated the house for Christmas, getting out the ladder to staple strings of flashing lights to their eaves. Madison set up a family of plastic snow-people on the front lawn just in time for them to be draped by the first snowfall of the season. Colin got a live tree and Jocelyn filmed his attempts to get it into the house as the kids laughed. He was whipped across the face by a branch and Jocelyn fought back tears of laughter as he rubbed the reddened skin.

Their reconciliation was completely unexpected, but Jocelyn followed along with his play. He asked her forgiveness for straying, but Jocelyn said he didn’t have to apologize. She stopped short of giving him permission to keep it up. She knew that he would either keep seeing Shannon or eventually find another side project to keep himself occupied when she was on the road. They had make-up sex, he suggested counseling, but Jocelyn put him off long enough that the idea finally went away.

Madison announced she had a boyfriend two weeks before Christmas, and he invited her on a ski trip with his family. Colin was skeptical, but Jocelyn said it was fine. Thomas was easy to please at Christmas; he had a Santa-list and basically anything that made noise was a win in his book. Madison was older and much more complicated. It would be a relief having her out of the way so she didn’t have to deal with her until the New Year. 

Her initial panic at being trapped in Jocelyn Webb’s life faded as the days went on. Occasionally she checked the web, skimming Waukegan’s newspaper on the off chance there was information about Echo or the investigation into her psychiatrist’s death. She kept the listing of Waukegan Barretts close at hand, but she never went the extra step and narrowed it down by gender. Knowing she was most likely somewhere on the list was enough to calm her mind for the moment.

Madison left for her ski trip a few days before Christmas. Colin started getting phone calls that he left the house to take, pacing in the snow on the back porch with his head down as he spoke softly. When he came in from the latest call, Thomas was upstairs and Jocelyn was sitting at the dining room table. She waited until he was almost out of the room before she spoke.

“You should see her.”

“We agreed that it was best if--”

“Just go see her. Fuck her brains out. Call it a Christmas gift. I don’t care, Colin.”

He sighed. “Yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it? You really don’t care about anything, do you?”

She finished what she was doing and went to make herself a cup of tea. She drank it by the sink and watched the snow drift off the roof in flimsy waves of white powder. She was halfway through her tea when her cell phone started buzzing from the table. She froze and stared at it from across the room, trying to keep herself from getting excited. The phone was almost always Myles calling with a job, but there had been a few exceptions. The problem was that the exceptions were hardly ever good news.

She finally put her mug down and walked over to answer the phone before it went to voicemail. “This is Jocelyn.”

“We have a problem.”

She kept her breathing steady. She could hear Colin and Thomas in the living room, not five feet away. “It’s Christmastime. I’m with my family.”

She knew he would ignore the protest; he knew her well enough to know she was just putting on a good show for anyone who was eavesdropping. She tensed as she waited for him to continue.

“Miss Barrett asked for a solo job. Despite my misgivings, and despite the fact that I wasn’t sure she was ready, I agreed. You did a job you normally would have turned down, so I thought it would be a nice balance. Besides, I wanted to see if she could handle herself on a solo.”

She wanted to scream at him to just get to the point but she remained quiet. Colin laughed at something and Thomas called him a cheater. _If you only knew, kid._

“She shot the wrong fucking person. She was spotted by the target and she ran. She’s disappeared, but the cops found her car and hotel room. The hotel room that I paid for, the rental car I set up for her. I threw out as many firewalls as I could but they got close. Meanwhile I have a panicking client and the girl ghosted, Joss. Your little prodigy is in the wind.”

Jocelyn had faded away, and Joss Kurtis stood in the kitchen in her place. Her face was hard, and her voice was like flint when she finally spoke.

“I’ll find her."


	13. Chapter 13

“You have to go right now? Right this second?”

“It’s a crisis, Colin. This could affect my job. It’s not a question of whether I’ll get fired, it’s a question as to whether I’ll have a job in January.”

She could see him struggling to stay quiet, knew the next round would involve the finances and how little money he was bringing into the house. If Jocelyn lost her job it would destroy them. She had savings, but she had to launder it before it would do any good. She doubted even Colin was dense enough to ignore it if she pulled a few hundred thousand out of the bank when she didn’t have a job. There was also the fact that if the organization imploded, there was a very real chance she would go to prison. How many security cameras had seen her with Echo? She was a known associate. She would be expected to throw herself under the bus if it would save the higher echelons.

“Will you be home for Christmas?”

“I can’t see any possible scenario where this is cleared up by then. Just bring in the B-team. Ask Officer Molloy if she has plans.”

Colin stared at her. “You want me to bring her here? Introduce her to the kids?”

“She’s good enough to ride your cock, but not to meet your children?”

“Jesus, Jocelyn...”

She shook her head. “I’m in the middle of a crisis here, Colin. I can’t take the time to care about your current piece of strange. I have to be on a plane in less than an hour. I’m going to be pushing it as it is. So I’m sorry if I seem cold to you. It’s just because I don’t have the time or the inclination to fake it right now.” She hoisted her bag and carried it downstairs with Colin trailing her like a puppy. “Consider it an audition. If the kids like her better than me, I’ll find a hotel when I get back.”

“You really don’t care about anything, do you?”

“That’s not true,” Jocelyn said. “It’s just that our interests don’t intersect. The Venn diagram of our minds would be two separate circles with a chasm between them, Colin. I don’t give a fuck what you do, just try to make a decision before I come back.”

 _If I come back,_ she added mentally. If Echo was on the run and Myles was on the offensive, there was a very real chance that the next time her family saw her it would be on the news.

#

“Boy, I hate flying.” 

Joss looked up from her phone’s browser and looked at the man sitting next to her. He had a double chin, his gut straining the limits of his shirt. He shifted back and forth in his seat trying to get comfortable, and his hip bumped against Joss’. He nodded at her phone, which was currently open to a document.

“You would have thought that in this day and age, you know, we could just do everything over the computer. Telecommunication and all that. But nope, sometimes you gotta be there in person. Press the flesh and make a face-to-face impression. I used to think that I’d never prefer a face on a screen to a real-life person, but boy howdy, if it kept me off an airplane--”

Joss put one finger to his lips and leaned in, speaking so quietly only he could hear. “If you speak to me again, I’ll put something in your drink that will make you hallucinate insects are crawling out of your eyes. If the air marshal doesn’t shoot you in the head, you will be taken into custody and whipped with hoses until the effects wear off. The drug I put in your drink will come back on a tox screen, and you’ll be arrested for possession of a very dangerous substance. I can make it look like you accidentally got dosed with a chemical weapon you planned to release on the plane. By the time you get out, you’ll be able to teleport to your business meetings. Now shut the fuck up and let me focus on my work, understood?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes wide enough that they appeared to be ping pong balls taped to a ham. She dropped her finger, wiped it on his jacket, and focused on her screen. Myles had sent her the information in a heavily-encrypted file, which she had downloaded using a phone she would be discarding as soon as she got off the plane.

The job was in New Orleans, and the target was a local man named Reginald Thibault. He was in his early forties, a former all-state running back and current prosecutor currently working to bring several shady contractors to justice for their post-Katrina practices. According to a press release, he was prepared to indict several people in the coming weeks. The trials were set to be national news. Success would depend on his continued survival. Joss had taken jobs like that in the past; eliminate the spearhead and let it serve as a warning to the other lawyers who might take up the cause in his stead. It would be like shooting him as he neared the end zone for a touchdown. The ball would drop to the field, and no one else would risk taking it the rest of the way.

It didn’t always work out that way, and occasionally there would be a crusader willing to take the chance for the greater good. Still, it didn’t stop those with their head on the gallows from making a last-ditch effort to save their sorry asses.

Echo was hired to eliminate Thibault. She arrived in New Orleans three days earlier and went incommunicado. Two days after her arrival Thibault was leaving a restaurant with his wife when Echo resurfaced with a silenced pistol. Witnesses said she was dressed in an oversized army jacket (to disguise the shape of her body) over a hoodie (to cover her hair) and a turtleneck pulled up over her nose. She wore dark glasses, but the street outside the restaurant was bright enough that Joss was sure she could still see clearly. She used a gun with a silencer and aimed at the back of Thibault’s head. 

The private investigator Thibault’s firm kept on retainer was serving as his bodyguard and spotted the gun almost as soon as it cleared Echo’s pocket. He shouted a warning and Thibault dropped into a crouch and pushed his wife behind him. Echo lost her shot but recovered by changing targets. She put two center-mass on the bodyguard, knocking him on his heels long enough that she was able to slip back into the shadows.

Thibault left his wife, a trauma surgeon currently home from Afghanistan, to tend to his downed bodyguard, then pursued Echo. He might have been two decades past his prime but the man must have been inhumanly fast. He caught up with Echo and knocked her down, pulled off her mask, and knocked the gun away before she could finish her job properly. Fortunately he was so shocked by the sight of her youthful, female face that he let his guard down. She punched him between the legs and immobilized him long enough for her to make an escape.

Joss thought it might have been easier if she had just turned the gun on herself. A sketch with an extremely good likeness of the girl was circulating New Orleans, emblazoned on every newscast and taking up a large portion on the center of every front page. The airports were closed off, and the ports might as well have been drained for all the good they would do her. The roads were still a slight possibility since no roadblocks had been set up.

According to Myles, the client was in a panic. Thibault’s office had hired a private investigation firm to aggressively examine everyone who could have hired a hit-woman (or contract killer, as the news was choosing as its politically correct alternative) to eliminate the man. The NOPD had increased his security. Reginald Thibault was currently the safest person in N’awlins, and Echo Barrett was a dead woman walking.

She closed the phone and looked past her stout but silent seatmate. Thibault had built an impenetrable wall around himself. She pictured it in her mind, a stone wall surrounding the target. All she had to do was fill the space he occupied with water. The stone wall would become a well, and Thibault would drown. All she had to do was figure out what the water symbolized in her equation and the job would be half-done.

The other part of the job would be finding Echo and getting her out of the city in one piece. Failing that she had to make sure Echo went down as a solitary shooter with a bone to pick. That plan still involved finding Echo, since she couldn’t very well assassinate someone she couldn’t even find.

She looked at her watch. The location was just one more damnable thing about the job. There were no direct flights from Pierre to New Orleans, and she was being forced to spend two hours cooling her heels in Denver. There was a chance she could use that to her advantage. She texted Myles to see where he was and if he could get her some things to help her pull off the job.

Twenty minutes later he replied to tell her he was driving to avoid the hassle of airports. He assured her everything she needed would be waiting for her when she arrived in the bayou.

Joss shut down her phone and leaned back against her seat, working through the steps in her mind to see if there were any weaknesses that needed to be smoothed over before she pulled the trigger.

Metaphorically speaking, for once.

#

The airport was flooded with transients, people on their way from one place to the other in celebration of the Christmas holiday. Joss didn’t understand it, the need to flutter like a moth toward a flame just because of a holiday. She imagined the gift quotient had something to do with it, but she couldn’t imagine anything being worth the hassle of dealing with the travel hell the season created. She remembered the people trampled outside of stores on Black Friday and knew that the reasoning was all but lost. People went to sales because there was a sale. People flew home because that was what you did on Christmas. Joss stood separate from them and watched as they moved like players on a stage following the script without ever once realizing how artificial their actions were.

There was ice on the runway in New Orleans, which caused a moment of tension for the people on Joss’ flight from Colorado. There was a smattering of relieved applause when the plane safely landed, and a few people laughed as the moment of danger passed. Joss’ portly companion had departed at Denver and vanished into the bowels of the airport, replaced by a man who made a point of jamming in a pair of earbuds even before they were allowed to turn on their electronic devices. He had been a non-entity, and Joss was grateful for him. She needed to be left alone with her thoughts so she could follow each possible outcome to its terminus. A slip could be disastrous. 

Myles was waiting for her in the terminal. He looked horrible; she doubted he had slept since finding out what happened with Echo, and a non-stop road trip couldn’t have helped matters. Joss happened to glance at her watch; Echo had pulled the trigger twelve-and-a-half hours earlier. She had been in the air for most of those hours, and it seemed reasonable that Myles had been on the road even longer.

He held out two leather billfolds. “You don’t want to know what I had to go through to get those. It was worse than usual, Joss. It was like walking backwards through a laser grid, brushing away my footprints as I went. But I got you what you asked for. You sure it’ll work?”

Joss shrugged. “It’s the best play. Thibault is untouchable right now. This is the only way past his defenses.”

“Are you sure the plan isn’t to get shot in the face? Because if it is, then this is a great plan.”

She tucked the identical leather wallets into different pockets after checking their contents. “What does management say about Echo?”

“Your choice. If it’s easier to just let her take the fall, they’re willing to abandon her.” He watched her for a moment. “Are you, though? Willing to let her be the sacrificial lamb?”

“She knew what she was getting into. There’s a chance I’ll find her already dead by her own hand.”

“You think she would off herself?”

“After a screw-up of this magnitude, it’s what I would do.” They started walking. “Are you ready for your part of the plan?”

“Five seconds of work. It’ll cost me a cell phone, but after this cock-up I’m planning to do a complete wash anyway.”

Joss nodded. “Okay. See you on the next one.”

“If there is one.”

They parted ways, with Joss heading toward the car rental while Myles went off to wherever he had to go. Joss wondered how many members of the organization had converged on New Orleans in response to the crisis. It was like Assassin Mardi Gras, and it all rested on her shoulders to make things right. If that was even still possible. Her plan was a Hail Mary at best, suicide at worst. She would know in the first few seconds if it succeeded or failed, and if it failed she would know when the handcuffs were slapped on and her fingerprints taken. 

That thought, even as a possible eventuality, made her heart seize in her chest. There had been close calls in the past, moments when she was sure she had fired her last gun, but nothing with a pass/fail as high as this. She steadied her nerves and looked down at the clothes she had changed into after getting off the plane. Simple, business-casual, something Jocelyn would wear and toss aside once she became Joss. Her hair was smoothed back but dry, pinned over her right ear with a bobby pin. She wore flat, sensible shoes. She made a habit of being unremarkable, but this time she needed to be blandly so. She needed to be so forgettable that people would forget what she looked like the moment their eyes were off of her. She stopped to take a coat out of her luggage and pulled it on. She also had Colin’s hunting cap, which he had never taken hunting, and let the flaps on either side down so they brushed against her cheeks.

When she left the airport she was neither Joss nor Jocelyn; she was Lyn Curtis, according to the ID Myles had provided for her, and Lyn Curtis had to hurry if she wanted to make her appointment. She didn’t want to keep the police waiting.

#

Reginald Thibault did not believe in hiding, in running away and disappearing just because one crazy person pulled a gun on him. He continued to work, trying his best to ignore the swarm of law enforcement he now trailed in his wake. The firm’s in-house investigator was in critical condition at the hospital, his life saved only by the quick attention of Azalea Thibault, the original target’s wife. His position of bodyguard had been filled by at least two men brought in by the agency of the injured man. They were supplemented by a contingent of officers from the New Orleans Police Department, uniformed men and women who checked IDs at the building’s front door and stood posted at the firm’s fourth-floor offices. 

In addition to the police, the FBI had arrived soon after the discovery that Echo’s hotel room and car were paid for by an organization that had come up in a number of other investigations. Nothing had ever stuck, but having an actual member of it in custody could be the lynchpin they needed to create a case that might finally crack the shell and let some light in.

Thibault, showing a decided lack of belief in his official protectors, also paid his bodyguard’s employers to lead an unofficial inquiry into his attempted killer. They were scouring the city, digging into the places where someone with a police or FBI badge would never be able to gain entry. They made Thibault’s firm their base of operations, which meant when Joss arrived there were close to two dozen people whose sole wish that holiday season was for someone connected to her organization. She granted the wish by walking into the lobby of the building and reaching for one of her ID packets.

It didn’t matter which one she showed to the uniform at the door. He nodded at it and let her go by. She eyed the Art Deco clock mounted above the elevator banks without breaking her stride. It was a few minutes before ten in the morning. Other businesses in the building had closed for the Christmas holiday, and she had arrived between the morning rush and the lunch exodus, so she was alone in the middle of the space when the silence was shaken by a sudden shriek of sirens. 

Myles had done his part expertly. The other people in the lobby reacted immediately, stopping in the middle of whatever they were doing to await meaning for the disruption. Joss stopped where she was and looked first toward the ceiling, then at the two men guarding the doors. The one who had checked her ID was speaking into his shoulder-mounted radio while the other looked poised to act. He was still listening to the response then the stairwell door opened and people began retreating toward the front doors. The flight was led by one of the FBI agents, who answered the guard’s question loud enough to be overheard by everyone in the lobby.

“We got a bomb threat upstairs.”

Joss joined the migration out into the ice and snow, zipping up the coat she had just unzipped and ducking her head behind the collar of her jacket. Lawyers paraded out onto the street and stood on the opposite sidewalk, huddling close to the bricks for whatever ambient warmth they might provide. Once the civilians were out, the FBI and uniformed police began to appear. Joss approached the first uniformed cop she saw and pulled the billfold from her left pocket. “Special Agent Lyn Curtis, FBI. Did the call come in on Thibault’s dedicated line?”

“Yes, ma’am. Whoever the bastard is, he wanted to be sure Thibault knew he was in danger.”

“Thank you.” She knew several other uniformed officers had overheard her, so she moved ten full yards down the sidewalk before she pulled the billfold from her right pocket and tapped an FBI agent on the arm with it. She held up her New Orleans Police identification for him and then tucked it back into her coat. “Detective Lyn Curtis. I heard the call came in on Thibault’s personal line. Whoever this is wants to fuck with him...”

“Yes, Detective, we already considered that angle. Excuse me, please.”

He somehow brushed her out of the way without actually making contact, and she glared at him as she returned the ID to her pocket. It didn’t matter if he was a dick; the groundwork was the important thing and it had officially been lain. There was no way to get through Thibault’s walls, so the only option was to become one small brick of it. The cops and the feds would sit in their own little cliques. Feds would think she was a local cop and, while they wouldn’t involve her, they would at least tolerate her presence at important locations. As for the cops...

She spotted a pair of detectives standing near the far corner, separate from the rest of the crowd and conversing quietly. The black-haired one turned to look toward the building and revealed the detective’s shield on her belt. Joss made her way over to them and took the ID out of her left pocket. 

“Excuse me, detectives?” She held up the wallet. “Special Agent Lyn Curtis. I’m sick of this bastard staying a step ahead of us, and I’m not going to let some petty interagency bullshit get in the way of a successful case. The way things are going, Thibault’s going to end up dead while we’re still in a pissing match to prove which one of us is in charge. I want to get home in time for Christmas, so I’m willing to work with you. What do you say? Tit for tat?”

The blonde one looked at her partner, crossed her arms, and lifted her chin as she smiled. “Agent Curtis, you read our minds.”

Joss smiled.


	14. Chapter 14

Detectives Cindy Beauregard and Sara Devlin agreed with Joss’ “gut feeling” that the bomb threat was a distraction. Devlin said that if the killer planned to strike again, there was no way she’d call so much attention to herself. Joss pointed out that she had just flown in from Washington and therefore hadn’t had a chance to look at the crime scene. Beauregard offered to drive her, and Joss gratefully accepted the offer. She glanced back as the detectives led her to their car, watching as the agents and uniforms milled about on the sidewalk as they awaited the bomb squad to clear the building.

Joss got into the backseat of what she realized was Beauregard’s personal vehicle. Devlin took out her phone to let their boss know they were going back to the crime scene, and Joss caught a glimpse of the screen before she dialed. The photo showed Sara and Cindy apparently in their off-hours. Cindy’s black curls had been loose, but Sara’s blonder hair was tucked underneath a fedora. Sara as pouting at the camera, one arm around Cindy’s neck, and Cindy seemed to be dipping her partner low for a kiss before the photographer caught their attention. Joss then noticed the silver ring on Sara’s left hand and remembered a matching one on Cindy’s.

“Why don’t you two have the same last name?”

Cindy Beauregard chuckled from behind the wheel. “Louisiana is not what you’d call a progressive state. We were in the closet for a long time, finally came out to our friends, had a commitment ceremony, but as far as the official record is concerned, we’re two single ladies who like to hang out.”

“And who share a very fun hobby,” Devlin said as she hung up.

Beauregard laughed. “Right. We talked about officially changing our name to signify our relationship, but we decided to wait until we could make it officially official. Same with the rings. Silver for now, gold when it’s legal.”

Joss let her attention wander as the women talked about the relationship. She didn’t care, but the conversation had broken the ice and kept the women occupied. They arrived at the restaurant where Echo’s assassination attempt had gone so horribly wrong before the detectives had a chance to get suspicious of their passenger. She climbed out of the car as it rolled to a stop, and Beauregard paced the distances for her.

“Thibault was standing here, his car parked directly in front of the entrance. He had his driver pull it around for him when they were finishing up their meal. Shooter came from there.” She held out her left arm like a gun, aiming it at the alley approximately five feet away. She took two steps, bodyguard saw her draw the gun, and then all hell broke loose.”

Joss walked into the alley. Devlin joined her and pointed up. “Security lights are busted. Not the shooter’s fault, the owner admitted they had been like that for a few weeks. Perfect place for her to sit and wait for the right moment.” She nodded back toward the street. “Thibault had a habit of asking his driver to pull up to the front right before he came out, so that would have been her signal to get ready.”

 _Good girl. That’s a good routine, and you used it to your advantage. I would have done the same thing._ Joss said, “You’re thinking she watched Mr. Thibault?”

“We’re thinking the whole time she was in N’awlins,” Beauregard said. “Hotel said that the woman checked in three days before the shooting. Thibault and his wife ate out most nights of the week, so it wouldn’t take much time to find the pattern and take advantage of it.”

“The hotel. What name was she checked in under?”

“Josephine March.” 

Joss knew that either Myles or the people above him liked using literary characters. She had been Esther Prynne, Molly Flanders, and Emma Woodhouse. But she couldn’t very well know that, so she feigned confusion until Devlin clarified. “It’s a character in _Little Women_.”

“Aha. Where did the chase end?”

Beauregard motioned for her to follow, then marched down the alley. They reached a cross-street and Joss stood on the sidewalk where Echo had nearly been captured. To the east, she could see water bracketed by an overpass and storage buildings. To the west was a high-traffic road. Joss had to admit that, in the spur of the moment, she didn’t know which would have been the better choice for escape. On the one hand, she would basically be running toward the end of the road when she reached water. On the other she would be racing back into a public area. Warehouses provided cover. But a young woman being chased by a large man, particularly a large black man, could convince the innocent bystanders that she was in danger.

“And after she disabled the bodyguard she ran... west? Into traffic?”

Devlin shook her head. “Toward the water. Fewer streetlights that way, so it was easier to slip into the shadows.”

Joss chided herself for the error. “Okay. Is it possible for me to see Thibault’s home? If the girl knew his routine, she must have watched him round the clock.”

“We had someone look into that already. We did a door-to-door, but no one reported seeing anyone suspicious in the neighborhood.”

“Just the same, I’d like to take a look myself.”

Beauregard said, “You think you have an inside track?”

“I think I’ve investigated this girl before. I’d like to have a few more details before I say anything official, though.”

“You think she’s done this before? I have to say the first attempt seemed pretty amateur hour.”

Joss resisted the urge to take offense at the comment. “I’ll know more once I have more information.”

Beauregard shrugged and led the way back to the car. Devlin hung back to walk with Joss. “You’ve been chasing her for a while, haven’t you? That’s why you’re going lone wolf, working with us lowly local cops.”

Joss said, “This one is special to me, yeah.”

“Cindy and I will make sure you get the credit if we end up bringing her in.”

“I appreciate that.”

Joss got into the backseat again, uncomfortable with how familiar she already was with the backseat of a police detective’s car. Hopefully she would never take a ride in an official capacity. The streets were ridiculously narrow, shrunken down to a single lane by people parked on either side of the road. Tree branches heavy with ice bowed low over the road and occasionally raked the top of Beauregard’s car. Considering both detectives’ lack of reaction, they were accustomed to the haunted-house sound of fingernails dragging over the metal. 

They entered the Garden District and parked in front of a two-story Victorian house tucked safely behind a wrought-iron fence and a protective barrier of a sprawling oak tree draped with what looked like toile but on closer inspection was revealed to be a plant of some sort. Beauregard saw her looking and said, “Spanish moss. I guess it hasn’t been cold enough to kill it all off yet.”

Devlin nodded to the bay windows which were lit from within. “Looks like someone’s home. I’ll let them know we’re sniffing around.”

She went through the gate and showed her badge to the guard as she approached the porch. Beauregard stayed on the sidewalk with Joss, who ignored her as she put her hands on her hips to scan the street. If she had been given the assignment, she would have been hard-pressed to find a good stakeout location. The streets were crowded with cars on both sides, the weather was horrible, and people were out walking despite the freezing temperatures. It might be easy to go unnoticed under such circumstances, but sitting and watching without attracting attention would be near impossible.

She expanded her radius and looked further down the street; she raised the axis and looked higher. At the end of the street was another Victorian home that looked as if it was still untouched after the hurricane. The windows were covered with plywood and the yard was overgrown behind its gates. Joss pointed and said, “How about there? It’s got a clean line of sight to the house, and no one would bother her there.”

Devlin rejoined them, and Joss led the way to the abandoned house. She checked the gate for signs of tampering despite knowing Echo would be too smart to waltz in through the front door. Devlin suggested the alley and showed her where it was. Sure enough a pair of milk crates had been arranged into an inconspicuous set of steps. Joss climbed over and the two cops joined her in the knee-high grass of the backyard. Joss doubted Echo would have returned to her hide after such a huge snafu, but there was the possibility she had just led two cops to her doorstep.

The back door had been jimmied open. Beauregard insisted on going first, with Devlin watching her back, and Joss was more than willing to let them lead the way. If they did find Echo, Joss would take out one from behind while Echo eliminated the other. A simple nod of the head would let Echo know which one Joss planned to shoot. Then they would leave the closeted detectives to be found or listed as Missing Persons once they were safely out of the city.

Beauregard foiled Joss’ plan by instantly suggesting they split up once they were in the house. The back door led into a kitchen, which Beauregard cleared before she nodded Devlin inside. A stairwell next to the stove led upstairs and Devlin gave a hand signal that she would take it. Joss followed Beauregard into the front of the house. The ground floor was occupied only by the kitchen, dining room, and the living room. There was some furniture still present, shrouded like ghosts and emitting an odor that revealed they were flood survivors. Joss grimaced at the smell but didn’t take the time to cover her nose.

“Downstairs clear,” Beauregard called.

“Upstairs clear,” Devlin responded, “but there’s something up here you should see.”

They ascended with the detective once again in the lead. Joss couldn’t help but notice the way she filled out her black jeans and wondered if she ever screwed around on her wife. They reached the landing and found Devlin standing at the doorway of a room that looked out over the side yard. She gestured with her chin, gun at her side as she escorted them into the room. Joss saw a sleeping bag and a pillow tucked into the far corner, along with a small leather shoulder bag that she figured held clothes and other tools Echo would have needed for her stakeout.

Devlin used the barrel of her gun to push the plywood out of the way on a front-facing window. Beauregard and Joss both bent forward to look outside. Thibault’s house was visible through the naked trees, the bay windows glowing through everything that was between the two locations like a lighthouse through the fog. 

Devlin said, “Perfect vantage point for her to keep an eye on everyone coming and going. She even had a little nest set up over here.”

Beauregard walked over and crouched next to the sleeping bag. Devlin circled back to the door and kept an eye out in case anyone came home while her partner searched. Joss knew that Echo wouldn’t have left anything incriminating behind when she left to complete the mission. She was a little surprised she had left behind her pack, but she would have been planning to run. She couldn’t be weighed down by everything she had brought with her. Then, of course, coming back to a location so close to Thibault’s house would have been suicide.

“Map of the town,” Beauregard said, listing the contents of the bag, “a couple of knives, some changes of clothes, no ID or anything that could lead to an ID.”

Devlin said, “Still, it’s more than we had before. Good job, Agent Curtis. We’ll get a crime scene unit out here ASAP, see what we can find. Odds are if she was sloppy enough to botch the job then she left something behind that will get us another step closer.”

“Fingerprints would be nice,” Beauregard said.

“If wishes were horses.” Devlin shook her head. “I don’t think this girl is going to be in any database. We find fingerprints, it’ll just come back to unknown.”

Beauregard said, “Still, getting the fingerprints here could catch her in the future.”

“Lot of good it does us now.”

Devlin rolled her eyes. “I’m going downstairs to call CSU.”

Joss waited until she heard the door open and close before she looked at Beauregard. “Is she always so pessimistic?”

“She prefers the term realist.”

“I feel for you. Can’t be very fun to deal with that all the time.” Joss chuckled and reached out to put a reassuring hand on Beauregard’s thigh. She let her palm linger long enough that the detective looked down, then looked at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Did I misjudge?”

“I love my wife.” Joss continued to stare at her and Beauregard’s expression hardened. “Agent Curtis, take your hand off my leg.”

Joss held her hands up in surrender. “All right. Just didn’t want to let the opportunity pass.”

“The opportunity passed six years ago.”

“Fine. All right.” She stood up and brushed her hands on her slacks. “I didn’t mean to offend. It’s just been that in my experience, the ring on your left hand means caution, not stop.” She displayed her own ring as evidence, grateful for once that she hadn’t taken it off when she arrived on a job. Beauregard looked away with barely disguised contempt. The flirtation had served a dual purpose in confirming Beauregard wasn’t open to an affair, but also throwing up a distraction that would keep half her mind distracted from the crime scene at hand.

The crime scene techs showed up fifteen minutes later, blocking the center lane of the street and effectively destroying the potential for any other traffic getting through. Joss waited until the house was filled with floodlights and bland people in identical blue jumpsuits before she went outside. Beauregard and Devlin were waiting in front of Thibault’s house in their car, the windows fogged from the coffee one of the CSU teams had brought them. Joss wondered if Beauregard was confessing the flirtation to her wife or if it would just remain an unspoken event. Joss had contingencies for either possibility, but at the moment she had more pressing concerns.

Echo hadn’t returned to her blind, not that Joss would have expected her to. But she was somewhere in N’awlins, and finding her was Joss’ number one goal. She didn’t know what she would do once she had the errant assassin in hand, but for any type of progression on the situation she first had to be found. Joss stood on the sidewalk well away from the forensics crew. Either Beauregard or Devlin had identified her to them and she was allowed to remain within the yellow tape without being harassed.

None of Joss’ assignments had ever gone quite this sideways, but she’d always planned what she would do in the event one did. She would have to flee, get out of sight, but she would need a place near the target in case a second opportunity to succeed presented itself. Joss walked to the edge of the perimeter and looked both ways up and down the street. She would find somewhere secure. She stuck her jaw out and panned slowly across the area. There was a loading dock for a business enclosed in a wrought-iron fence. She’d seen a lot of fences like that, iron gates that let the flora creep through. Not many fences to hide behind, or stone walls. In fact, the only stone walls she had seen...

She lifted the yellow tape and ducked underneath, running before she had a full idea of where she was going or how she would proceed once she got there. The only thing she knew for certain was that she’d just figured out Echo’s hiding place.

#

Every city in the world regardless of size had a single universal requirement if anyone was going to live there: people were going to die there, and something had to be done with the bodies afterward. New Orleans didn’t have the luxury of burying their dead so they went to the other end of the spectrum with ornate, elaborate cemeteries that housed foreboding crypts, Gothic mausolea, statues, and other monuments to the deceased. Joss had made one quick stop at a deli and used their free wifi to look at a map of the city’s gravesites. There was no shortage of final resting places Echo could have chosen to hole up, but Joss found the one nearest to Thibault’s house and decided it was the most likely candidate.

The cemetery took up an entire city block, the white stone walls rising above her head like the fortifications of an ancient palace. Joss knew that Echo, terrified and hunted, would likely have seen it the same way. People in their line of work didn’t have the same sense of repulsion most people had when it came to the dead. New Orleans seemed to have the same attitude, with their cemeteries unavoidably erected in the middle of their neighborhoods.

The gates were open when Joss arrived. She stopped just inside the entrance and tried to think like Echo. She imagined the sound of sirens in the air, the cringing feeling of eyes being on her. Security cameras, well-meaning citizens, cops cruising around looking for anyone suspicious. She would want the most defense between her and the outside as possible, so Joss headed for the center of the cemetery. She followed winding paths past idyllic gravesites, tall tombs surrounded by foliage that she was sure would have been lovely in the height of summer. Plastic flowers had appeared on some graves, surreally frosted with glass-like ice.

She stood in an open space and let the sleet pelt her face. She narrowed her eyes and scanned for evidence of someone disturbing one of the crypts. There was paint defacing one, streaks of blue, yellow, and black that seemed like an attempt to signify something but she couldn’t say what. She looked to the right and saw several tombs large enough to house a whole family in the afterlife. She looked to the left and saw smaller statues and stone crosses. She went right.

Some mausolea were easily accessible so the family could leave mementos inside, and for the grim purpose of more easily interring family members who died in the future. Joss didn’t know how frequently funerals occurred in New Orleans - if she judged by the media she would expect one to interrupt her search - but she thought that if any member of the Vermette family had been buried since the storm began, the service would have been large enough to disturb the frost in front of the mausoleum door. Joss stepped over the stone barrier and approached the door. It was open just a crack, and she put her shoulder against it. The stone scraped against the floor and she half-fell into the dusty and dark interior.

Something slammed into her from the side, and Joss felt the sharp prick of a knife against her gut before she twisted away. Joss twisted her arm, grabbed her attacker by the belt, and pulled her feet off the ground. She howled in surprise and Joss slammed her hard enough against the ground to force the wind from her lungs. Joss grabbed the collar of her sweatshirt, picked her up and hauled her up against the wall. She stepped back and examined her stomach, confirming that the fabric was intact and unbloodied. She tossed the bag she’d gotten from the deli at the coughing shadow in the corner.

“Hi, Echo. I brought you a sandwich. Thought you might be hungry.”

Echo coughed once more and took a tremulous breath, holding the bag with one hand as she rubbed her chest with the other. “What happens now?”

Joss sighed. “Now we find a way to get you out of this goddamn swamp before you end up in a crypt for real.”


	15. Chapter 15

Joss sat down next to Echo as she tore open the sandwich and devoured it like an animal. Joss knew she likely hadn’t had a chance to eat since the shooting, and her stomach was probably too nervous before her first solo assignment to eat much before. Echo’s face was smeared with the sandwich sauce, but she didn’t waste time wiping her lips or cheeks before starting on the chips. Joss watched her eat in silence, hands resting on bent knees, waiting until they could speak. She was grateful to have a moment to think about what they would do next. Try to smuggle Echo out of town? Or just go the easy route and sacrifice her for the greater good?

“I’m sorry I hit you so hard.”

Echo shook her head. “I’m sorry I tried to stab you.”

“You had no idea who it was. I’d be angrier if you hadn’t tried.”

“I’m glad it was you. I’ve been so terrified, Joss.” She sniffled and clenched her fists around the wrapper. “I just don’t want it to hurt.”

Joss looked at her. “What?”

“When you... do what you have to do.” She sniffed. “I was afraid Myles would send someone else to do it. That’s one reason I had the knife. I’m glad it was you, though.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Echo.”

It was only then that she knew it was true. She reached out and squeezed Echo’s shoulder, then pulled her close. Echo fell into her embrace and burrowed her head into Joss’ coat. 

“You’re so warm.”

Joss realized Echo had been outside for the entire storm and leaned back to shed her coat, wrapping it around the shivering girl. She put Colin’s hunting cap on her as well, and Echo chuckled at the earflaps.

“Not exactly high fashion.”

“You’ll wear it and enjoy it.” She noted the bags under Echo’s eyes. “Having trouble sleeping after what happened?”

Echo shook her head and looked away. “The whole time I’ve been here. I’ve been awake non-stop. I kept worrying I would miss something important, or the moment of opportunity would pass me by. Plus I was nervous. I wanted to make you proud of me. I wanted to report a successful hit the next time we saw each other. I guess that kind of went out the window, huh?”

Joss put her arm around Echo, drew her close, and kissed the top of her head. “We all have missions that go bad.”

“You?”

Joss nodded. “My worst job was about five years ago, so I can’t even blame inexperience. I revealed myself, pulled out my gun, pulled the trigger, and the fucking thing jammed. The guy took the opportunity and knocked the gun out of my hand, started kicking my ass. I could see how cocky he was getting, how he was composing the story he would tell his buddies about how he’d not only had a contract killer sent after him, but he’d kicked their ass. He would be drinking off my failure for years to come. I couldn’t stand that, so I became... particularly determined to complete the job.

“We were fighting in his apartment, so all I had was stuff that was nearby. Fucker didn’t go into the kitchen, of course, where the really dangerous shit is, but I managed with what I had on-hand.” Her voice drifted off as her mind went on a tangent involving kitchens, household toxins, and the possibilities they held. She found the story again and went on. “He had this lamp with a sort of... it was this weird bell-shaped glass shade. So I grabbed it and hit him, glass shattered, the edge of it was so sharp that I used it to cut his hand open. Then I just jumped him, wrapped the cord around his neck, and pulled until he went limp. Then I went home, got paid, and found a class that specialized in hand-to-hand defense. I didn’t want to get caught flat-footed again.”

Echo had been so quiet that Joss looked down and saw the girl had fallen asleep against her shoulder. Joss kissed her forehead and settled back against the stone wall, her legs extended out in front of her. The cold was piercing in the crypt, and Joss had no idea how Echo had survived an entire night there. She closed her eyes and rebuilt their situation in her mind. She drew a picture of Thibault and put a brick wall around it. She inserted herself inside the wall, along with Beauregard and Devlin. She had a semblance of an idea, but she had to get into the Thibault home in order to make it work. Christmas was in a few days, and she imagined there would be a large party. Security around the home would be airtight, but that just meant she would be able to get inside unnoticed with her PD escorts.

The getaway was a problem. Or was it? She’d initially thought that the ports were a useless means of escape, but were they? Maybe if Thibault had been a President or a national figure, but he was just a local District Attorney. Did the police or the FBI have the authority to shut down the ports due to a failed assassination attempt? Maybe under ordinary circumstances they could get a few hours, but a few days before Christmas? How many holiday cruises were set to embark in the next forty-eight hours? How many millions of dollars would the cruise industry lose if their ships had to sit in ports while a manhunt was under way? Ships would be leaving, and it was then that Joss knew how she would get Echo out of the city.

She waited until the girl woke on her own, then softly said she had to leave for a little while.

“Where are you going? Will you be back?”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I just have to do some shopping.”

#

Joss returned to Thibault’s house to find her pet detectives had already left. She was unsurprised, and used her FBI identification to con a ride out of a local cop. He drove her to Thibault’s office so she could retrieve her car, and she drove around until she spotted a dollar store. She never understood the stigma applied to the quaint little places; they provided all sorts of necessities for an extremely low price. They had saved her ass on more than one occasion when she was in the field without something she desperately needed.

She wandered the aisles and carefully constructed everything she would need for Echo’s disguise; scissors, makeup, a box of hair coloring, a plain white button-down shirt, and a pair of electric hair clippers. She paid for her purchases and then drove to the docks. She bypassed the larger, fancier ships and focused on the less-flashy outfits on the far end of the dock. She parked, put on her most harried expression, and went into the offices. The man behind the counter looked stressed enough to be in charge, and he looked up as she entered. She saw him inhale so he could begin his sales spiel, but she cut him off before he spoke.

“I need your help.”

He looked intrigued but unlikely to help. He stared for a moment and, perhaps deciding it would be good for a chuckle, motioned for her to go ahead. “Let’s hear it.”

“We’re having a bit of a family emergency and I’m just at my wits end trying to figure a way out of this. I know that what I’m about to suggest may be... m-may be technically illegal.” She dropped her voice to a whisper on the last word. “But I swear it’s our only hope. See, my niece ran away from home about five years ago. Got in with a bad crowd, drugs and selling herself on the street. All that wonderful after-school special bullshit. You know? Well, she cut off all ties with us, but now her mama, my sister, is really sick. She’s not long for the world, sir, and my niece is clean. She really is. And she just wants to see her mother and say she’s sorry before it’s too late. The problem is she’s completely broke. Gas money, even a bus ticket, is out of the question, and forget flying.”

His expression had softened, but she could see he was still a brick wall. “I’m sorry. That’s a terribly sad story, but I can’t just let her stowaway--”

“That’s not what I’m asking. It’s the holidays, and I’m sure you could use an extra hand around the ship. The kitchen or the dining room, janitorial... whatever you need, she’ll do it for free. She’ll be your ship’s personal galley slave for the duration of your journey.” He seemed to be on the fence, so she went in for the kill. She had been eyeing the map on the wall behind him so she would know the ship’s planned route. “This isn’t technically illegal. I mean, I-I don’t think it is. You’re going into international waters, but then you’re coming right back to Fort Lauderdale. She’s not trying to skip the country, she’s not avoiding customs. She’s just a girl who wants to see her mother one last time.” She made her eyes water by biting the inside of her cheek. “She came to me for help. Desperate. And I can’t afford the ticket any better than she can. If all else fails, I guess the... I guess they can talk on the phone or...”

He held up a hand to stop her. “How old is she?”

“Twenty-five.” She sniffled.

“And she’ll work? She knows it’s not just a free ride?”

“I’ll make sure she’s fully aware of what she owes, yes sir.”

He quietly considered the proposal and then, after what felt like an eternity, said, “She needs to be here tomorrow morning at four-thirty so we can run her through everything she needs to do before we set out. It’s not going to be a vacation in any sense of the word. We’ll make her earn her keep.”

Joss beamed. “Thank you. Oh, my God, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. What’s your niece’s name?”

“Madison.” She had no qualms about loaning her daughter’s name to Echo. “You have no idea what you’ve done for our family.”

He said, “My father had a drinking problem for most of my life. I know how much these reunions mean, and I know how easy it would be to blow it off just because it’s too hard. Make sure she’s here tomorrow morning. Four-thirty sharp.”

“I will. Thank you so much.”

She turned and left the office, swelled with victory at the con she had just pulled off. Echo would be leaving New Orleans soon enough and would reach Florida safe and sound in a little over a week and a half. It wouldn’t be an easy trip, and she was likely to lose a lot of sleep and gain a bad back and callouses. But when the alternative was arrest and imprisonment, Joss doubted she would complain.

#

Echo initially balked at the idea of cutting her hair, but Joss argued that she would probably get it cut in prison just to make showers quicker, and the girl gave in. She sat on a concrete step in the crypt with Joss on a higher step, legs on either side of Echo’s body, carefully cutting the long locks from Echo’s head. They cascaded to the floor in a golden tangle until Joss’ shoes were covered with them. She had cut her own hair on two different jobs, and cutting someone else was much easier than she expected. The end result was a hack job, but it fit the cover story of Echo being a former drug user.

Dying her hair red was a much trickier prospect. Joss finally managed to make it look passable. She explained the plan as she worked the dye into the follicles. Echo approved of the plan.

“I once worked in a kitchen at a nursing home. It’s probably not much different than that, except it’s on the water.”

“Customers are probably the same age.”

Echo chuckled. “But how will you get out of the city?”

“I can’t leave. I have one more task I have to complete.”

“The job I fucked up.”

“Yes.” There was no judgment in Joss’ voice, but Echo still looked guilty. “I have a possible play in mind. If it works, I’ll be gone before they even think to start looking for me.”

“But they will look for you. Won’t they?”

Joss nodded. “Louisiana will be burned for me. At least for a good long while. It’s fine. I hardly ever take jobs here anyway.” She finished with the dye and used the clippers on the peach fuzz on Echo’s neck. “It’ll be easy enough to keep your cover on the boat. The backstory doesn’t matter. You’re just a girl desperate to reach Florida as soon as you can. The rest is just detail. Keep your head down and keep quiet, no one should make too much of a fuss.”

Echo touched her newly-crimson hair and turned to face Joss. “Thank you. You’re saving my life.”

“I’m doing my job.”

“So you’d have gone this far for Myles?”

Joss didn’t have a response to that, because she knew she’d have killed Myles without hesitation. She would have killed Thibault, and then left Myles’ body to be discovered so the cops would have their scapegoat. She couldn’t deny that she’d changed her plan because she cared a lot more for Echo than she expected to. She pushed back the thoughts and said, “While you’re on the boat you’ll go by the name Madison Smith.”

“Madison. That’s your daughter’s name.”

“It was the first thing I thought of.”

“Still.”

Joss wet her lips. “Echo...”

“I love you.”

“No,” Joss said. “You don’t.” She bent down and gathered the shorn hair in the bag from the dollar store. “Try to get some rest. I have to go explain my presence to the two detectives if I want to stay involved with the investigation. Do you still have your phone?” Echo nodded. “I’ll text you, make sure you’re awake and don’t miss your boat.” She could see Echo was hurt from her rejection, so Joss crossed the tomb, cupped the girl’s face, and kissed her tenderly. Echo sagged against her and their tongues brushed together. Joss felt very capable of surrendering to the kiss and turning it into something more, but she forced herself to end it after a few seconds. “You made a mistake, Echo. It happens. But the important thing is that you keep going.”

“What if Myles decides I’m a liability? This could be the last time we ever see each other.”

“I won’t let that happen. I’ll request you on my next job. Especially now that you’ve seen how easily things can go wrong. You did a great job up to the moment of truth. I’m proud of you, Echo. I know you’ll be a great addition to the organization one day. This experience will only make you stronger.”

“But what if Myles doesn’t agree?”

“Then I’ll go up to Waukegan and get you myself.”

Echo’s eyes widened and she parted her lips to ask a question, but Joss silenced her. “It doesn’t matter. Get some rest. You have a long two weeks ahead of you. Once you reach Fort Lauderdale, Myles will have something set up so you can get home. Then you go about your life and wait for me to call you again. Can you do that, Echo? Say ‘yes, ma’am.’”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good girl.” Joss kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you on the next one.”

She picked up the bag, prepared to discard of the hair at the first barber shop she passed. She waved goodbye as she left, waiting for Echo to push the crypt door shut behind her. Joss swept her foot over the concrete to spread the frost out more evenly, looked around to confirm the lane was empty, and then headed for the main road. Now that Echo was all but safe she could focus on her true mission.

She had a lawyer to kill.


	16. Chapter 16

Joss gained entry to the police department with a flash of her fake FBI credentials and asked where she could find Beauregard and Devlin. She was directed to the third floor, where she found the partners sitting at desks arranged to form an L. Beauregard saw her first and made a subtle comment to Devlin, who looked up with a crooked smile. “Looks like she didn’t fall into the swamp after all. Where’d you go?”

“Beauregard and I had a tiff, I decided to take a little breather. Maybe follow up a lead, but it was a dead end.”

“Tiff?” Devlin said, glancing at her partner.

Beauregard shrugged. “She said something about my hair.”

Devlin pursed her lips and sucked in air. “Ooh, Agent. You’re lucky she didn’t just shoot you.”

Joss pulled over a chair and sat next to Devlin’s desk. “Did you guys find out anything useful from the squat we found?”

“The squat _you_ found,” Devlin said. “CSU is still going over it but right now it looks like we’re out of luck. They think whoever the girl was, she took the time to go back after the shooting and splashed bleach all over everything. They’ve found some smudges but no workable prints. Right now they’re looking for hair, saliva on her sleeping bag, anything they might pull a drop of DNA from.”

Beauregard said, “Could be a waste of time. Even if they get lucky, it’s not going to help us if there’s nothing to match it to. But we’ve gotta look.”

“You don’t think she’s in the system?” Joss asked.

Devlin shook her head. “I would be surprised if she was. Thibault described her as twenty, maybe twenty-one. College age, amateur. It’s crazy, though. Why go to all the trouble to kill someone if you’re just going to bargain-basement the deal? Contract killing is like laser-eye surgery; you don’t go to the discount store, you pay for quality. This, this is just sloppy.”

“Are we sure it was a contract situation?” Devlin looked at her, and Joss shrugged. It was taking everything she had to act nonchalant as the bitches badmouthed her friend. “Like you said, it’s sloppy. Amateur. The whole reason I’m here is because Thibault is connected to a big-time case and it stands to reason he’s been targeted. But what if he’s not. What if this is just some girl looking for revenge in some other case?”

“We have guys looking into that angle,” Beauregard said. “If there’s one profession that grows enemies faster than law enforcement, it’s lawyers.”

Joss checked her watch and sighed. “Okay. I’ll call you in the morning so we can touch base again. Do you know any hotels that might not be overfull with my coworkers?”

“The FBI isn’t setting you up with a nice suite?”

Joss had no idea if the FBI routinely paid for their agents to stay in hotels, or if Devlin was just teasing her. Either way, she had a response ready. “They didn’t exactly ask me to be here, so I’m a hundred percent on my own. Bureau does not like lone wolf investigations. They’ll change my mind once I get the girl I’m chasing, though. And as a thank-you they will reimburse me for some of these hotel visits, but I’m not holding my breath.”

Devlin said, “You know what, just in case this isn’t your girl and you walk away empty-handed, let us take some of the pressure off. Stay with us tonight.”

“Are you sure?” Joss glanced at Beauregard, who seemed uneasy but was good at hiding it.

Devlin was nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah. We have a big ol’ house in the French Quarter. You’re welcome to set up camp in the guest room. Besides, it’s Christmas. It’s a standard of the holiday season that you need to have people taking up space in your house.”

Joss looked at Beauregard, who was nervously tapping her pen against the back of the opposite hand. Finally she managed a natural-looking smile. “Yeah. We’d love to have you. It’s that Southern hospitality thing you’re always hearing about. Come here without a place to sleep, and we’ll put a roof over your head and a meal in your belly.”

“Well, then,” Joss said, “in that case I would love to.”

“Great.” Devlin smiled. “Stick around, we’ll give you a ride when we finish up.”

#

When Devlin described their house as big, Joss imagined something Gothic and historic like Thibault’s house. Instead they parked in front of a simple shotgun house, stairs leading up to a bright red door flanked on either side by two tall, narrow windows. Joss got the feeling the house was deeper than it was wide, and her suspicions were proven right when they walked in. A hallway stretched out from the living room straight through a hallway that split off to bracket a small kitchen. The front room was decorated for Christmas, with a tree in front of one window so its multi-colored lights would shine against the curtain. The room was edged with blue and purple tinsel and multiple ornaments that had been bunched together like sparkling grapes. Joss was impressed with the amount of effort that had gone into making the room festive, and marveled at the amount of gifts under the tree for a household of two. 

Beauregard and Devlin seemed to change once they were inside, their professional demeanor sluicing off as they crossed the threshold to their private domain where they were free to live as lovers, not partners. Beauregard had gathered her hair into a ponytail but loosened and shook it free once they were inside. They both immediately stowed their badges and guns in a safe near the door.

Devlin stood up and stretched once she was disarmed and once more a civilian. “I’m going to go upstairs and change.”

“Okay. Agent Curtis and I will get started on dinner.”

“We will?” Joss said.

“That’s the dark side of Southern hospitality,” Devlin said, already unbuttoning her blouse to reveal a scoop-neck undershirt. “We’ll feed you, but we’ll also put you to work.”

Beauregard said, “I’ll show you to the kitchen.”

Devlin went with them, but opened what looked like a closet door and went up one of the most unexpected staircases Joss had ever seen. She remembered seeing a small triangular window above the front door but it had seemed like simple decoration.

“I thought this was a single-story house.”

“It is, technically. Our bedroom is in the attic. We completely renovated when we bought the place after Katrina. This part of town faired pretty well, relatively speaking, but there was still a lot of damage. So we got it for a steal, and we got to make the place completely ours in the process.” When they arrived in the kitchen, Cindy went to the radio on the counter and turned it on. Music immediately began playing and, with the added white noise as cover, Cindy’s demeanor changed drastically. “Okay, listen. About what happened at the nest...”

“Right.”

“I didn’t tell Sara because one, the matter is settled and you won’t bring it up again. Right?” Joss nodded. “Secondly, she’s...” She sighed and rested her hand on the counter. “Sara gets jealous. Like rage-y jealous. It’s one of the very few things I don’t like about her. If she thought you had hit on me, there’s no way you’d be here right now. Hell, she’d have run you out of Louisiana by this point. So for the sake of everyone involved, let’s just forget it ever happened.”

Joss said, “You have my word.”

“Good.” She turned to the stove, then lifted her head to scan the cupboards. “What do you know about gumbo?”

#

Sara came back downstairs in well-worn jeans and a T-shirt that left a thin strip of tan skin visible along her waistline. She took over while Cindy went upstairs to change as well. Sara changed the music from Cindy’s piano-and-cello ambiance to the Black Keys. Joss appreciated the swap and actually got involved with the preparation of the meal. When Cindy returned she and Sara sang along to “Ten Cent Pistol” while Joss pretended as if the song wasn’t significant to her lifestyle at all.

Since Joss wasn’t interested in formulating a whole fictitious backstory for herself, the dinner conversation rested heavily on how Cindy and Sara got together. Neither had been in a lesbian relationship before, although Cindy had at least been aware of her curiosity. Sara, the one Joss thought of as the more butch of the couple, was strictly heterosexual until they were partnered together. They bonded, they built up a trust, and one night Cindy admitted that she felt “confused” and needed to take a few steps back from their friendship. Sara agreed and, in the absence, realized just how deeply her feelings for Cindy ran. They reunited, talked about it, and they agreed to a few practice dates.

“One month later, we kissed,” Cindy said, smiling at her partner over her wineglass. “A month after that we slept together for the first time.”

Sara smiled. “For the first time in my life I realized what it was like to give yourself over to someone entirely. I trusted her with my life. Literally. And I knew I was falling in love with her. I could either fight it tooth and nail or I could give in. I’d have to say I made the right choice.”

“Well, it’s only been six years,” Cindy said. “You could still relapse. How long have you been married, Lyn?”

“Seventeen years.”

Cindy whistled. “Wow. You’re in it for the long haul, huh?”

“Well, he fucks around on the side.”

Cindy tensed, and Sara chuckled nervously. “Wow. Uh. Sorry. I guess that happens.” She looked at Cindy for help and received nothing. “Did... uh. Did you catch him or...?”

“He’s just terrible at hiding it.” She took a bite of the shrimp from her gumbo and wondered why she was telling these women so many real truths. “We stay together for the kids. A boy and a girl.”

“Oh.”

Cindy took a drink of her wine. “You know, if you ask me--”

“Beau.” Cindy stopped speaking, and Sara looked at her pointedly with raised eyebrows. Firmly but not unkindly, she said, “She didn’t ask you.”

“Right. None of our business.” She touched her lips with a napkin and pushed away from the table. “I’ll clean up.”

Sara stopped her. “No, you cooked, I’ll clean.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Sara bent down to kiss the top of Cindy’s head as she gathered the dishes. She went into the kitchen and, after glancing to make sure she was out of earshot, Cindy went ahead with what she’d been about to say.

“If you’re into women, and if your husband is screwing around, I don’t think you’re doing the kids any favors by sticking around.”

“I thought your wife told you to be quiet.”

Cindy’s cheeks reddened. “My wife suggested I bite my tongue before I started an argument. But she doesn’t know about what happened at the house.”

“What do you care about my marriage?”

“You’re wasting the privilege,” Cindy said. “I’d kill to officially marry that woman in there. Maybe one day I’ll be able to. But right now you have the right, and you’re making a mockery out of it. Gay marriage destroys the institution? No, sham marriages like yours are the reason the institution isn’t worth the paper you print the license on.”

Joss sipped her wine. “Are you done?”

Cindy stood up. “You’re welcome to stay in our home for the time being. We’ll work with you to catch this killer, and if it’s your girl we’ll help you put her away. But no more talk about your husband or your... extracurricular activities. Got it?”

Joss saluted. “Aye, captain.”

Cindy rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen. Joss leaned back against the seat, holding her wineglass and listening to the blues rock filtering in from the kitchen stereo. 

#

Joss would be staying in the house’s original bedroom, the master bedroom before the attic renovation, and she wished the detectives goodnight before her shower. Later on she lay on the bed and dozed as she listened to the sounds of the odd house. She wasn’t entirely awake, but she was conscious enough to know what was going on around her. She heard the muffled voices of her hosts in the living room, the Black Keys still playing from the kitchen to serve as a buffer so Joss couldn’t make out the details of what was being said. Finally, a few minutes after ten, the Black Keys fell silent and she heard footsteps on the stairs. A door closed somewhere overhead and Joss sat up in the dark.

She had tracked every squeak, every loose floorboard and telltale doorway in the house. Now, in the dark, she slid her socked feet over the carpeting to further silence her progress as she moved from the bedroom to the kitchen. She had a plan for how to deal with Thibault, but she’d never actually done it before. She needed to do a dry run, and she wasn’t keen on improvising in the heat of the moment.

There was a plastic cup in the sink and she placed it on the kitchen counter as she poured a respectable amount of wine into the bottom of the cup. She then tilted her head to listen for sounds from upstairs, any evidence one or both of the ladies was coming down for a nightcap or if they had forgotten something, but all she heard was the dull thud of footsteps followed by a muffled thump. Joss took the cup of wine out through the back door, carefully closing the screen so it wouldn’t slap, and went into the detached garage. She risked turning on the light long enough to get a sense of what the room looked like, and was fortunate enough to find exactly what she needed on a shelf right next to the door.

She sat the wine on the tabletop, screwed open the bottle of antifreeze, and carefully poured a small amount into it. She had no idea how much was required, and she also didn’t know how much she could add before it diluted the wine, making it visibly apparently. It was supposed to be masked by the tannins, but she had no idea of that was just movie bullshit. 

Once she had it appropriately mixed she turned the light on again and checked the wine’s appearance. It looked like the wine they had at dinner, smelled the same too. Would that be enough to kill a man? She added a little more, stirred it with the end of a screwdriver, and flashed the lights to check again. Still normal. She wished there was a way to taste it, but she didn’t dare imbibe even a single drop. She instead took it back inside, took a glass decanter from the shelf, and poured the wine into it. 

The viscosity was the same, and the wine didn’t seem too heavy or two thin. It would have to do. She poured the tainted wine into the sink, rinsed out the glass she had used for her test, and then returned the cup to the trash. She stood in the doorway and listened for sounds of movement from upstairs. She heard a quiet thud, followed by a slightly louder one, and then a feminine gasp. Devlin, if she had to make a guess. She listened for a moment longer and focused harder, picking up a low murmur of a husky voice. Devlin was being ravished, and it seemed as if Beauregard was talking dirty to her. 

Joss considered interrupting, walking in and finding out for herself just how jealous Devlin could be. If she really was an alpha mate, and if Beauregard was pissed off enough at Joss’ behavior, the sex would be phenomenal. Rough and nearly violent. She shivered at the potential, but knew there was no way she would be able to ascend the stairs and reach the attic bedroom without being heard.

A pity. But when she returned to her room and stretched out on top of the blankets, she discovered she could still hear them. She smiled, unbuttoned her pants, and enjoyed the symphony she had helped orchestrate.


	17. Chapter 17

On Christmas day, Thibault insisted that Christmas would occur at his home without any deviation from the original plan. Hours after he made the declaration, the bodyguard Echo shot died in the hospital. He had no wife, no children, and Thibault made a sincere phone call to the man’s family to extend his condolences. The New Orleans Police insisted on a security detail, as did the FBI. Thibault finally agreed simply to appease his wife, who agreed that the danger was still imminent. A small interagency contingent would secure the premises, and only a handful of agents and officers would be allowed inside the house.

Joss managed to excuse her presence as both sides thought she had been invited by the other. She moved quickly through the house on the pretense of looking for threats. The Thibault family went all out with their decorations. The exterior of the house was completely transformed from the first time Joss had seen it, awash in pale blue fairy lights and icicles that glowed with light from within. The living room was dominated by a live Douglas fir, and Joss didn’t even want to speculate at the cost of getting it to New Orleans. The party was black-tie, so all the guests were resplendent in their finest suits while the cops and the feds wore cheap knockoffs and wrinkled approximations.

Joss offered to clear the garage of any threats and found a bottle of antifreeze. She poured herself a nice-sized serving and secured the capped bottle in her coat pocket. Beauregard and Devlin were in the kitchen while the uniformed officers were freezing their asses off in the front yard.

When she checked the dining room, she found one of the caterers setting the table. She slipped in and approached the woman, smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. Joss didn’t know what kind of security clearance the catering company had gone through, but it was probably exhaustive and rock-solid. If the girl was cleared to handle Thibault’s silverware, Joss doubted she was shady enough to be bribed to look the other way. She decided to try a different angle.

“Hi. The lady of the house mentioned those poor officers outside on the front walk. Is there a chance they could get some hot chocolate or coffee, or...?”

“Oh! Sure. Let me just finish up here...”

“Oh, you can let me do that. I feel like such an interloper here. It would be nice if I could actually be useful.”

The girl smiled. “Awesome. I’ll be right back.”

Joss nodded and set the remaining places. As soon as she was alone in the room, she poured a glass of wine for Reginald Thibault, adding her special ingredient. She stirred it with her small finger to blend the poison with the wine, then wiped off her finger with a napkin. The caterer returned just as Joss placed a last folded napkin on the last plate.

“Whoa. They teach you that at Quantico?”

Joss smiled. “One of the many useless things they teach us in the event we have to go undercover. But it comes in handy once in a great while.” She had actually taught herself, along with how to prepare two dozen meals and how to set a table properly. She never knew when she would need to fake the knowledge to get close to a suspect, so she tried to cover all her bases as a Jane of all trades.

“I think the turkey is almost done, if the smell is any indication.”

“Okay. I’ll get out of your hair. FBI, seen and not heard, right?”

The girl touched the side of her nose and winked, and Joss slipped out of the room. The trap was set and ready to be sprung. Now she had to light the fuse so her escape plan could get underway.

Beauregard and Devlin had dressed up as much as possible for the occasion, with Beauregard in a backless white dress that hinted at her bust without giving too much away. Her hair was down and wild, and she looked like she belonged with the guests rather than strolling through the living room to check the perimeter. Joss knew she had a gun strapped to a garter on her upper thigh, and it killed her that she would never get to see it for herself.

Devlin wore a black suit with a collarless white shirt. There was a black button at the neck rather than a tie, and her hair was done up in a sensible bun. She smiled when Joss approached.

“Well, you certainly class it up when you work protection.”

Devlin chuckled. “Oh, yeah. This is my standard getup. Sometimes I go with the pearl earrings, but that’s really more of a ‘staking out the drug den’ ensemble.”

“Too true.” Joss stood next to Devlin, their arms almost touching. “Your wife, though... she certainly cleans up nice.”

“Mm, preach it.” She chuckled throatily. “When we first started... started out, I thought, ‘Okay. I’m okay with this. She can be butch, she can, you know, wear jeans and button-down shirts and be mannish. It’ll barely be like being with a woman at all.’ But.” She sighed and shook her head. “There’s something about that lady that drives me crazy.”

“Tell me about it,” Joss said. “I could barely contain myself at dinner last night. She’s just so fucking sexy. I just wanted to bend her over that table...”

Devlin snapped her head to the side, smile gone and danger glinting in her eyes. “Hey. Watch it.”

“No, hey. No offense. I’m just saying you’re a very lucky lady. I know that if you weren’t around I’d have forgotten about this case in a heartbeat and just thrown her over my shoulder, run to a hotel room, and ripped her clothes off...”

“I’m not going to tell you again.” Devlin’s voice was thick with warning. “Stop. Talking.”

Joss held up her hands. “Hey! It’s a compliment. But every time she slurped gumbo off her spoon last night, _God_. I bet she gives head like no one’s--”

Devlin’s punch came out of nowhere, a powerful roundhouse that actually took Joss by surprise and knocked her off her feet. She was dazed enough that she stumbled back and sat in the bay window, cupping her wounded cheek and staring at Devlin with manufactured confusion. Devlin was standing over her, red-faced with her hands balled into fists at her sides. Behind her the other guests had paused their conversations to see what was happening.

“What? She does the same for you, right? I mean, come on. You guys have pretty thin walls. Santa Claus wasn’t the only one coming last ni--”

This time she was prepared for the attack. Devlin didn’t stop after a single punch, and Joss brought her arms up to protect her head.

“Stop talking about her!” Devlin growled.

Suddenly the assault finished, and Joss saw that Beauregard and another male detective had pinned Devlin’s arms. She bucked and twisted between them, baring her teeth as she tried to rejoin the fight.

“Let me go, Beau. _Let me go._ ”

“Not while you’re like this!”

The room was suddenly full of people, both law enforcement and guests. The caterers had even paused their work to watch the ruckus. Someone stepped through the crowd, a muscular black man in an all-black suit. He held up his hands as he stepped between Devlin and Joss. It took her a moment to recognize him as her target, Reginald Thibault.

“What the hell is going on here?”

“I complimented Detective Devlin’s wife, and she went ballistic on me.”

The male detective holding Devlin’s arm said, “Wife?” He looked at Beauregard and realization dawned. “Oh, hell.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Devlin growled, tears in her eyes now.

Joss accepted an offered hand to help her up. “I think I’m going to step out and get some fresh air. Put some distance between us.”

“I think that’s a very good idea.” Thibault looked at Devlin. “Why don’t you do the same? In the backyard.”

“Yes, sir,” Beauregard said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. Tensions are pretty high all around today.” He smoothed down his tie as Joss was escorted outside by someone in a cheap suit. “Why don’t we just put all this out of our minds and go enjoy our meals? The turkey is almost ready, but the wine is waiting for us. Why don’t we go and drain a few glasses?”

The last word was cut off by the door closing behind her. Joss let the FBI agent escort her to the front gate, and he rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Will you be okay, Detective?”

Joss nodded. “I just need, uh... I think I need to walk around the block.”

“Probably a good idea.”

She sighed and thanked him with a nod of her head, then opened the gate and walked away. When she reached the corner she kept going, and when she reached her car she didn’t stop until she reached Mississippi. She dropped the car off at the airport, rented a new one, and prepared a roundabout trip that would make it impossible for anyone in the Big Easy to track down Agent Lyn Curtis should the need arise. Five airports, thousands of miles, hours spent in the air, all of it a small price to pay for the prospect of disappearing entirely.

When she stopped long enough to check the news, she used the airport’s free internet to look up stories from New Orleans. The Saints had won in overtime, the winter storm had passed and there was no longer any threat of ice, and local District Attorney Reginald Thibault had lost consciousness during Christmas dinner. He was currently in a coma at the hospital with massive kidney damage and doctors were not optimistic about his chances for survival. 

When Jocelyn finally returned to Pierre, it was the day before New Years’ Eve. She once again signed into the internet and this time she read that Thibault had died overnight. An autopsy revealed he had been poisoned, but as yet nothing had been found to reveal where or how it had occurred. She checked her private account, the one Myles used to send her payments, and discovered the payment had already been posted. There was no mention of Detectives Beauregard or Devlin, not that she expected any, but there was also nothing about an errant FBI Agent Curtis, or local Detective Lyn Curtis. Beauregard and Devlin might have had their doubts about their missing houseguest, but Joss doubted they cared that she’d vanished so thoroughly.

She returned home while Madison was still away on her ski trip, and Colin assured her that he and Thomas had a wonderful “guy’s Christmas” while she was gone.

“How’d everything go?” he asked when she went into the bedroom to unpack. 

“Crisis averted. I’m not used to dealing with crises in my own company. I’m much more comfortable work out problems with other people’s companies.”

He was leaning against the doorway, hands in his pockets. “And what about the problems in our company? You and me, this marriage? Come on, Jocelyn. You can’t pretend this is working out.”

“What’s not working out? You have your piece on the side, I cook dinner for you, I help take care of your kids...”

Colin laughed. “Yeah, bang-up job you’re doing on that, Jocelyn. Tell me, uh, did you ever return that call?”

She turned and looked at him and he raised his eyebrows, waiting for a response. She finally shrugged. “I didn’t get any call.”

“Two days ago?”

“My phone was off.”

“Is it on now?”

She rolled her eyes and fished it from her pocket. She turned it on and saw she had indeed missed a call. She pressed her lips together and called voicemail, watching Colin as he watched her. She listened to the message and then hung up.

“So Madison got hurt.”

“Two days ago.”

“I assume you took care of it.”

Colin said, “She broke her leg, Jocelyn. She was in the hospital, scared, and she tried calling you three times before she finally just left a message and called me.”

“What could I have done, Colin? You want me to cut the crisis short and fly out so I can sit in a hospital room? Besides, she’s fine.”

“Yeah. That’s what she said on the phone. That boyfriend of hers is a keeper, I guess. Got her down off the mountain, kept her calm until the ambulance arrived. I was kind of impressed with him. This kid Maddie’s known for three months cared more about her than her own mother.”

“My phone was off.”

“Story of your life. If it’s not convenient to you, you’re just deaf to it.”

Jocelyn turned her back on him. “You have no idea what I do to protect this family. If I hadn’t gone to fix this, you have no idea the shitstorm you would be dealing with right now. So why don’t you back the fuck off and let me relax for five goddamn minutes?”

He pushed away from the door. “Sure, Jocelyn. I’ll go.” He started to leave but then turned back. “Oh, Maddie is fine, by the way. Checked out of the hospital, she has a cast, but she’s fine. In case you were wondering.”

“I figure you would have led with the fact she’d died from lack-of-mother-in-hospital-room if that was the case.”

“Jesus, Jocelyn. If people had any idea what you were like behind closed doors, you’d be run out of town with pitchforks and torches.”

“Would your girlfriend be leading the charge?”

“Why would I let her have all the fun? I’m the one who earned that right. I’d be right there, first in line.”

She closed her eyes and, when she turned around, the bedroom doorway was empty.

#

Madison returned with a cast full of sloppy, multi-colored signatures written in Sharpie. Jocelyn put on a brilliant performance of the guilt-ridden, cloying mother. She fawned over the boyfriend, Brad, and ignored Colin’s rolled eyes as they all climbed into the car for the ride home. The panic over her first broken bone was finished by then, and she spent the entire trip telling about the excitement and fun they’d had up until The Incident. She gave them a blow-by-blow of what happened, and Brad assured them she’d been careful and properly protected. It was just an unavoidable spill that could have happened to anybody.

The family once again all together, Jocelyn resumed her role as suburban mother. She went to the office where she could surf the internet from her cubicle and pretend she had a real job for thirty hours a week, then she drove home and assumed the role of Mother of Two until bedtime. Colin was fortunately either too pissed with her or too exhausted from his side-piece that she didn’t have to be a sex toy once the lights were out.

She thought about what Beauregard had said about her marriage, wondering if she should have been offended. She also wondered if she had a point. Colin, Madison, and Thomas were real people who had real lives. Was she destroying their potential to have a real, meaningful life by making the foundation of their lives a lie? 

She decided it didn’t matter and drifted off into a peaceful rest.

Almost two weeks after New Years’, Myles sent her a text to check a post office box they sometimes used when electronic communication was out of the question. She expected a portfolio of her next target, some sort of information about a new job, but instead all she found was a postcard that said “GREETINGS from FORT LAUDERDALE!” On the back was her address written in thick black letters and a short message.

“Dry land! Everything hurts, but I made it. IOU! -E”

Jocelyn smiled and ripped the postcard in half, then into quarters. She tossed the pieces into the next four trash cans she passed but she remembered the message. Not the plain and simple message written on the face of the card but the implied message. Echo had arrived safely, she had gotten out of Louisiana and more likely than not she was on her way back to Waukegan to wait for the next time Myles called.

And he would call again. Jocelyn would make sure of it.


	18. Chapter 18

The snow blew in with the arrival of the new year, and Jocelyn couldn’t have flown out for a job even if she wanted to. Pierre was closed down by the blizzard, and the whole Webb family was imprisoned in their house. Madison’s broken leg meant she was immobilized, something she found completely unacceptable. She spent most of the day going up and down the stairs like a half-robotic spider, using her crutches to carefully propel herself up each riser before turning around to descend again. She was determined she wouldn’t be lazy and create a lot of work for herself when soccer started up again.

Colin, cut off from his girlfriend, was equally miserable. He worked on his novel or watched television. Meanwhile Jocelyn faked working on her computer. She had nothing to file, no reports waiting to be filled out, and she felt as if she was stagnating as she waited for the weather to cooperate with her. Thomas suffered the most, she assumed, since he was restricted to his room. The third day of confinement finally found Jocelyn bored enough that she sought out her youngest child and peered into his bedroom to find him hunched over a cell phone to read the bright screen.

“You’re lucky. When I was a kid, when a storm locked us in, we were cut off entirely.”

“No email?”

“No email,” she confirmed as she came into the room. “No texting, no IMs, not internet at all. That’s not just during storms, we didn’t have the internet. The internet was like science-fiction to us. The house where I grew up didn’t even have a computer.”

He looked at her with wide eyes. “Not _one_?”

“Not even one. Who are you talking to?”

“Billy.”

She sat on the floor in front of him. “I don’t know Billy. Do I?”

He shrugged.

“Probably not. I’m not very good with keeping track of your friends.” She looked around his room, elbows on her knees, and wondered at this little person she had created and then immediately began to ignore. He was like a pet hamster, kept in a cage on the shelf and noticed only when he made noise or needed to be fed. He was just part of her cover, something that made her look more normal when she wasn’t in the process of killing people.

“So what did you do for fun? When the snow was out?”

Her father had ways of keeping them busy, but she wasn’t about to tell him those stories. “We read books or talked to each other. We played board games.”

“Bored games?”

She nodded and then clarified by spelling it. “They came in a box and you had little pieces. I think we have some. I mean, God, a copy of Monopoly probably came with the house. Maybe later on I’ll see if I can find it and Daddy and I can teach you how to play.”

“Okay.” He got another message and dropped his head to read and reply.

Jocelyn watched as his tiny fingers poked the screen. “Billy’s your friend, huh?” A quick nod. “Does Madison have a lot of friends?”

He poked his tongue out. “I don’t like them. They’re loud, squealing.” He demonstrated and Jocelyn couldn’t help but laugh at the imitation. “Noisy. Yech.”

“One day you won’t mind that so much.” She paused. “Does Daddy have any friends?”

Thomas nodded. “Yeah.”

“Like who?”

“Dave. Mr. Billings. Mr. Harper.”

Jocelyn said, “Is one of Daddy’s friends named Miss Shannon?”

He paused with his thumbs poised over the screen, moving his eyes to look at her without raising his head. “Um.”

“It’s okay, honey. I know all about Miss Shannon. I just want to know if you know who she is.” He gave a quick, uncertain nod. “Do you like her?”

He shrugged. “Daddy said I probably shouldn’t talk about her to you.”

“Well, I asked about her. So that makes it okay.” He looked skeptical, but she was his mother. That meant it was all right... right? “So have you seen Shannon a lot?”

“A little. I mean, she was here for Christmas. She cooked me and Daddy Christmas dinner. She said ‘boys shouldn’t be forced to fend for themselves.’”

“What a good little Stepford Wife she is.” He looked confused. “That’s just a grown-up term, honey. Don’t worry about it. So did Miss Shannon spend the night here?”

He tilted his head to the side. “No.”

“It would be okay if she did.”

“No. She went home after she gave Daddy his present.”

“What did she give him?”

Thomas shrugged. “I didn’t see. She gave it to him in the other room while I was playing the game Daddy got me.”

 _Of course she did_. “Would you like it if Miss Shannon was over here a lot more?”

“I guess.”

“Even if it meant you didn’t get to see me as much? Maybe at all?”

“We-ell.” He drew the word out so that it was almost a sentence by itself. “I don’t get to see you all that much anyway.” Then he looked confused. “Why? Where would you go?”

She shook her head. “Nowhere, honey. Mommy’s just thinking out loud.” She patted his shoe. “Sorry I interrupted your conversation. Tell Billy I said hi.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

She got up and left the bedroom, surprised to find Madison standing in the hallway. She was perched on her crutches, her shoulders lifted on the pads in a perpetual shrug. She looked disappointed.

“I can’t believe you’re okay with That Woman being here on Christmas.”

“I assume you know Shannon, too.”

Madison scoffed. “Yeah. I know Shannon.” She looked down at her cast. “I can’t believe he would do that to you. What a fucking pig.”

“Language.” 

Madison rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You don’t know what he’s like with her, Mom. He acts like she’s the real wife and you’re just some woman he knows. It’s sickening and I hate it. I can’t stand watching them together while you’re off supporting his stupid writing career.”

Jocelyn knew the proper reaction would be anger, but she couldn’t help but feel proud of her daughter. “Well, to each their own. Maybe one day I’ll decide enough is enough, hm? Until then, we’ll just have to accept it. All right?”

Madison didn’t look happy, but she let the subject drop. She twisted her lower body and angled herself for another trip down the stairs. She looked over her shoulder at her mother.

“Want to head down before I start a roadblock?”

“Thanks.” She stepped over the crutch and went downstairs, hearing the unsteady and awkward descent beginning behind her. She went to the window and looked out at the sheet of pure white stretching out across the backyard. The rest of Pierre was much the same, and she knew that any sort of escape from her suburban identity was impossible. She wondered if the storm had reached as far as Illinois, if Echo was experiencing the same sort of cabin fever. She let the curtain drop and went into the living room to lie down on the couch and get some sleep.

If she had to be stuck at home, she was going to spend as much time as possible unconscious.

#

When the storm passed and the snow finally began to disappear, Jocelyn volunteered to take Madison to the hospital to get her cast taken off. They also needed groceries, and mundane items were running dangerously low. It was worth the errands to get out of the house. Jocelyn actually welcomed the crush of people at the store because they weren’t her family. She was sidetracked three times by various women, members of the school board, mothers of other girls on Madison’s soccer team, and one woman Jocelyn could not remember for the life of her. She talked to the stranger for almost five minutes, faking recognition until she shuffled off and let the shopping continue.

Madison reveled in finally being free of the cast, swearing up and down that she would never go skiing again. The fall happened halfway through the trip, which meant that she had to sit and wait while everyone else got to go out and have fun all day.

“I mean, Brad tried to be a good boyfriend and hang around, but when everyone else left all he wanted to do was...” She turned and looked out the window, as if her words had suddenly dried up. Jocelyn waited for her to continue, but the conversation seemed to have ended there.

“What?” she finally prompted. “Let me guess. You had your leg in a cast, so he probably didn’t expect you to kneel. So I guess it would be hand jobs?”

“ _Mom!_ ”

“Oh, please. You’re sixteen, you have a boyfriend. If you’re not giving him a hand job every now and then, there are plenty of girls in school who will. Since he’s stuck around for three months and took you all the way to freaking Colorado, I imagine he’s getting something off of you.”

Madison leaned forward with her face in her hands.

“Why is it shameful? Boys are expected to get some in high school, but the second people discover a girl is putting out, they’re labeled a slut. And it’s not like the boys can just fuck their teachers, not without the teacher getting in trouble. So... what, are all the boys just blowing each other in the locker rooms?”

“Je-sus- _Christ_ , Mom! _Language_!”

Jocelyn laughed. “So what is it?”

“I... I...” Madison shifted uncomfortably, a hand near her face, looking out the window. “Hand job in Colorado. But I’d given him head before that. Shit.” She covered her face and laughed nervously. “I’m still a virgin. I mean, technically and all.”

“Okay. As long as you’re safe, I don’t care. I don’t want to be a grandmother just yet.”

“Shit. Okay. Yeah. Wow.” She shook her head and shrunk down in her seat.

When they got home, Madison hurried upstairs to avoid further humiliation by making eye contact with her parents post-confession. Jocelyn took the groceries in and began unloading them. Colin came in and watched her for a moment before he spoke.

“What the hell did you say to our son?”

She thought for a moment. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Something about ‘Miss Shannon’ being his new mommy?”

Jocelyn scoffed. “I didn’t say anything like that. I just said there was a possibility that one day she’d be around more and I wouldn’t be. I thought I’d make sure it wouldn’t be so traumatic if that was where it was going to go.”

“It was an inappropriate conversation for a kindergartener! Come on, Jocelyn, do you ever think before you open your damn mouth?”

She glared at him. “What do you want me to do, Colin? Want me to wail and scream and thrash around because you’re fucking someone on the side? I don’t care.”

“Uh-huh. And I’ve finally figured out why you don’t care. It took me this goddamn long, but I finally figured it out. You don’t care about Shannon because you’ve been doing the same thing. Every time you go off on your little trips, there’s someone waiting. Or you find someone new. How many people have you fucked since we got married, Jocelyn? I’m actually very curious.”

“Why? Want to know if you’ve been with more?” 

“I want to know exactly how big of a sham this marriage is.”

Jocelyn chuckled. “Oh, you don’t need numbers for that, honey. This marriage was a sham from day one. I decided the next guy I met would be it. I was sick of dating, so I chose you to be my husband. And every _day_ for the past seventeen years I have wished I’d stuck it out for just one more person. Because honestly, Colin? The reason I don’t care about Shannon is because she’s doing me a favor. She gets you out of my bed, and she gives me a rest, and I welcome that. I appreciate what she has done by getting you the hell away from me.”

Colin held her glare for a long second. She watched as the fury drained from his features, his sneer relaxing into a resigned slump. His eyes narrowed and he took a slow, steady breath before he held his hands out palm-up. He took a step back, as if physically removing himself from the argument, and then dropped his hands.

“I want a divorce.”

Jocelyn laughed. “Trust me, Colin, you really don’t. But that is exactly what you’re going to get. I hope you and the kids are very happy with Officer Molly.”

“Molloy.”

“Like it fucking matters.”

He turned and walked out of the room. Jocelyn took a deep, cleansing breath, and then went back to putting away the groceries.


	19. Chapter 19

Echo kept the red hair, although it had been professionally cut and dyed by the time Joss saw it in Sacramento. The short style made her look flatteringly boyish, and Joss nearly didn’t recognize her until she broke into the familiar smile and began moving faster. Joss changed direction and put an arm out for a welcoming hug, but Echo surprised her by clinging to her torso in a grip that left little room for breathing. Joss bore the brunt of the hug-attack for a few seconds as the crowd continued to move around them. “It’s good to see you again, Echo.”

“Thank you,” Echo said once she released Joss. “Thank you so much for what you did.”

“I read in the paper that you finished what I screwed up. Thank you.”

“It’s what I’m here for. Come on. Did you bring any luggage?”

Echo hooked her thumb on the strap of the bag over her shoulder. “Just what I could carry.”

Joss nodded. “Smart.”

“So how did you pull it off? The other thing?”

“I’ll tell you in the car. We have a long drive ahead of us.”

They rented a car and drove east into Nevada as Joss revealed how she had pulled off the job. Echo was riveted, pausing her so she could describe the bayou cops to her. Joss nearly skipped the fact that she’d masturbated to their lovemaking, but in the end she told Echo everything. She realized that the freedom to spill everything was almost addicting. She could tell Echo the truth about everything without recrimination or judgment. She didn’t have to build a cover or tell a lie to explain where she had been or what she was doing. Echo knew all. Echo was excited by the prospect that she had killed, and Joss went through the story in explicit detail.

“She really kicked your ass?”

“She did! I wanted to shake her hand, I was so impressed. You don’t get loyalty like that much these days.”

Echo chuckled and looked down at the folder in her lap. Their current target was in Las Vegas and, while Joss normally wasn’t a big fan of the desert, she was luxuriating in the heat after being stranded in the South Dakota winter for over two months. It felt as if her entire body was thawing out, her muscles and bones blooming again under the sun. She kept her window down so that the dry wind could rake through her hair, and she occasionally closed her eyes as they drove down long straight stretches of highway. It felt like rebirth after the near-disaster of New Orleans.

“Joss?”

“Mm.” She opened her eyes and saw the road was still clear straight ahead of them.

“Thank you for coming after me.” Her voice was meek, and she kept her head down as she spoke. “When I started this, Myles said that we were on our own in the field. He said we weren’t going to be babysat. So when things went so fucking wrong, I figured that was it. I was dead. The reason I had the knife was because I was trying to get up the courage to slit my wrists.”

Joss didn’t know what to do with that. Finally she just said, “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me too.”

Joss drove on for a few miles without speaking. She chose a spot on the horizon and, when they reached it, broke the silence.

“My husband wants a divorce.”

Echo looked at her. “Oh.” She thought for a long moment and then said, “Sorry. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It’s not really either. He was a good cover. I could fly home and be Mrs. Webb. But God, was it stifling. The mommy stuff, the wife stuff, all the soccer games and PTA. I’ll be happy to be rid of all that. But it’ll make hiding harder.”

“And... well, I don’t mean to put a damper on your excitement or anything, but just because you get a divorce doesn’t mean you stop being their mother. You’ll still have soccer games and birthdays.”

Joss said, “He has a girlfriend. She’ll be the one who goes to that stuff.”

“Your kids will still want mommy, not stepmommy. And besides, he doesn’t have a girlfriend; he has a woman he’s fucking outside of marriage. You think she’ll stick around once he’s free? You think she’s pushing for a commitment? She’s there for fun, and if your guy drops you and starts talking about a trade, she’s going to hit the bricks. I mean, unless he’s rich or something and hooking up with him means she’ll hit the jackpot.”

Joss tightened her hands on the wheel. “Shit.”

“When did he mention the divorce? Was it in the middle of an argument?”

“Yeah.”

Echo nodded. “Yeah. You’re not getting a divorce, sweetie. I’m sorry.”

Joss flexed her fingers. She’d let herself get overexcited, had let her eagerness get the best of her. Echo was right. There was no way Shannon Molloy would stay once Colin was free and broke. He’d sold the novel, but that was hardly a windfall. The advance would maybe be a month or two of income before he was broke again. Then she would be the sole supporter, on a cop’s salary, with one kid in kindergarten and another planning to go to college.

“Maybe I can give him alimony.”

“You could.”

Joss sighed. “Then I’d still be supporting the asshole. Fuck.” She rested her elbow on the door and pushed her hand through her hair. “I guess it’s a good thing. It saves me the trouble of starting all over again somewhere else.”

Echo said, “Well. I mean. If you did, you could always come up to Waukegan. You shocked me last time when you said that, but I’ve spent the whole time since thinking about it. Who says we have to work solo, anyway? We make a good team, you and me.”

“It’s just the way we work, Echo. It’s the way it’s always worked.”

“What about Greta? Don’t you ever wonder what happened to her, or do you ever hope you might get teamed up together on another job?”

“No to both. I know exactly what happened to Greta. She’s dead.”

Echo looked at her with stunned disbelief. “What do you mean she’s dead?”

“This isn’t exactly the safest profession, Echo. And I’m not just talking about on the job. Remember what you said. We’re alone out here. If you mess up or if they even think you’re thinking about talking to the cops, they’ll eliminate you.”

“Wow. Who do you send to kill a contract killer?” The answer occurred to her a moment later. “Oh, God. They sent you, didn’t they?”

“I would have been offended if they hadn’t.”

“You killed the woman who taught you how to do all of this?”

Joss took a breath, counted to ten, and slowly exhaled. “Yes.”

She remembered the night clearly. It was summer and Texas was scorching hot. Joss was sweating under her turtleneck, her palms clammy in her gloves. She went through the unlocked back door of Greta’s bungalow and crept through the darkened house. The den light was on, and she eased the door open with the fingers of her left hand. She stepped inside and saw Greta facing the window, a glass of Scotch in her hand, classical music playing from the stereo on the shelf. Joss walked over and turned it off, but Greta didn’t react to the sudden silence.

“It’s me,” Joss said.

“I know. Have a drink.”

Joss looked at the bottle on the table, then at the glass in Greta’s hand. “I assume it’s safe since you’re holding a glass and you hope I don’t realize that I haven’t actually seen you drink from it. The Scotch is poisoned and if I take you up on the offer I die a horribly gruesome death.”

Greta chuckled. “It’s not terribly expensive Scotch, but it’s not poison. I would never poison you, Jocelyn.”

“It’s Joss.”

“No. Tonight, it’s Jocelyn.” She turned her chair around and Joss could see she’d been crying. “And my name is Gail. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She looked at the gun in Joss’ hand and winced. “Oh, God. So gauche. I hope you have a plan B, because you are not going to just shoot me. I won’t fight you and I won’t make it difficult, but do not just put a bullet in me. I’ve been through too much for that.” She drained the glass and then held it up as if Joss hadn’t seen the drink. She swallowed and put the glass down next to the blotter.

“Why.”

“Hm? Oh. Why did Myles give you my name?” She shrugged. “I had a crisis of conscience. I’ve killed husbands, wives, mothers, I’ve killed entire families just because one member’s name was on my list. It was just easier to tamper with the car and deal with the collateral damage. The only job I ever turned down was the idiot who, I swear to you, asked me to kill a dog. A golden retriever.”

Joss couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “What did the dog do?”

“Apparently his owner didn’t scoop the poop off the sidewalk. He offered me five thousand dollars to put the dog in a pet cemetery. I turned it down flat. I think Myles just brought it up as a joke to see if I would say yes. But no. I draw the line at animals. Animals never did anything to anybody.” She stood up and went to the bottle to pour herself a refill. “But this time. I couldn’t do it. I watched the guy for a week. He was single, no kids. He had a steady girlfriend, and he was friendly with his neighbors. Nicely positioned at work, not too high but not a peon. I watched him for a week and saw no earthly reason why he should die. So I didn’t pull the trigger.”

Joss said, “You told me we could turn down jobs.”

“We can. And if I’d just walked away it would have been passed on to you or someone else. But I didn’t do that. Because when you see a nice guy, a super-friendly guy, and you know he’s been marked for death, it makes you wonder who would pay to have such a nice person killed. The client wasn’t hard to spot. He was unambitious, jealous, pathetic. He was a hanger-on. He loved the target, but he hated him for getting everything the client wanted without any apparent effort. So he decided rather than improve himself, he would remove the person who was making him look bad.”

“You killed the client.”

Greta held her hands out. “Apparently that’s a no-no. It was a sign of weakness. We can’t afford that kind of thinking in this job. I know I should have just walked away. Or fuck, I should have just killed the person I was paid to kill. I’ve been doing this for three decades, Jocelyn, and I can’t do it anymore. I can’t stop myself from seeing them as a person. The next job might go off without a hitch, the next ten might. But then one day I’ll look around and realize that I’ve been working for the bad guy all along. And if I can’t handle that, I will go to the police and offer them a deal.”

Joss said, “We’re just tools. We don’t make the decisions. We get a name and we do what needs to be done. It’s simple. We don’t judge.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“It’s like you said. If we didn’t do it, someone else would. We might as well get paid for it.”

Greta shrugged indifferently and took a drink. “Are you sure you don’t want some Scotch?”

“Sure. I’ll take a little, neat.”

Greta poured her a glass and pushed it across the table. “I can’t believe you brought a gun. Jocelyn. So disappointing. I knew my number was up, but I hoped you would at least be creative about it. Just something so pedestrian... it’s beneath you.”

“I thought simple would be the best.”

“Mm. There’s something to be said for the classics, I suppose. But I just never saw myself dying that way. Like flipping a switch.” She sat down in one of the wingback chairs and sagged slightly. “I wanted something clever. Something befitting the Shakespearian moment of a student killing her master. Mistress. Well.” She waved her hand dismissively. “You know what I meant.”

Joss nodded and sipped her Scotch. “You would want something bigger, more elaborate?”

“Yeah.” Her eyes drifted shut. “You want to go away and come back when you have a better idea?”

“I have a couple already. Like I thought I could break into your house, replace all your ice with water that had been tainted with thallium. Then when you had your nightly drink before bed you would be poisoning yourself.” She took another sip of her drink.

Greta grinned. “Yeah, that...” Her eyes opened and she looked at Joss’ glass. She tilted her own glass, the ice cubes clinking against the side, and her smile widened. “You devious bitch. My stomach has been twisting in knots, but I thought I was just anxious.”

“No.” Joss rounded the table and crouched next to Greta’s chair. “I just came to say goodbye. You were like a mother to me. I wanted to be here when you left.” She looked down at the half-melted ice in the cup. “This should be enough to be the last dose. You’ll pass out, and then you’ll... not wake up.”

“My head hurts.”

“Yeah. That’ll happen.” She leaned in and kissed Greta’s cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too, kid.”

Joss settled back and sat on her heels, holding Greta’s hand with both of hers, and waited until her mentor’s grip went slack.

Years later on the desert stretch of highway, Joss took off her sunglasses and let the desert air dry the tears that had popped up in her eyes while Echo pretended not to see them. It had been the first and only time Joss had broken down in tears after completing a mission, and she’d thought about killing herself for betraying the only person who had ever meant anything to her. In the end she was saved by a simple mantra: she didn’t kill for free, not even herself.

By the time the two killers reached Vegas, Joss’ eyes were dry.


	20. Chapter 20

The days of mob rule in Las Vegas were over, and Leon Singh couldn’t have been happier about it. No more long car rides into the desert, no “private meetings” in back rooms where the gambler was never seen again. Just suspicions, suggestions to move along, and no real threat of arrest since there was no way to prove he was doing anything illegal. Occasionally he would spot one of the black domes concealing a security camera and wave to his friends, the god-eye in the sky as he called them. 

He tilted his head to count his chips and raised his bet to ten-thousand dollars. Child’s play. He smiled as the other players considered their cards and then decided to stay in or give up. Eventually Leon was the last man standing and leaned forward to rake in his winnings. Almost seventy-thousand dollars on that hand. Not bad for ten minutes work. He tipped the dealer generously, gathered his chips, and climbed off the stool to make his way to the next table.

One of his opponents, a Nebraska contractor who had just lost a good chunk of his vacation allowance, had once said Leon had an unbreakable poker face. Good hand, bad hand, it never seemed to matter to him. Leon just smiled and shrugged as he cashed in the man’s chips, but he had to admit it was true. He didn’t care if he won or lost, so he had no reactions to the cards he happened to be holding. It was all a numbers game. 

His house was built in the fifties, and a fallout shelter was included in the garage. It was a cozy space large enough to fit a family of four while debris from a nuclear blast rained down on their property, but Leon had never spent much time down there. At the moment it was flooded with green, full to the brim with stacks of cash. He had absolutely no idea how much was there, which was why it didn’t matter if he lost a few thousand here and there when he laundered it. He walked into the Shenandoah Resort with half a million dollars, which he exchanged for chips. He spent the morning losing, and with his latest haul he had succeeded in winning it all back in clean, legally-accountable gambling winnings.

A few short years ago he would have thought half a million dollars was a kingly sum, a number he would never see in his lifetime. That all changed when his friend came to him with a business deal. Just a quick conversation about a business opportunity, a chance to make all sorts of money. It had started with a simple, almost casual question: “You’re good with numbers, right?”

All Leon knew about the source of the cash was that it was illegal. Drugs, mostly, but he didn’t know and didn’t want to know the specifics. He took the money out of his shelter, spent a few hours a day playing cards in the casino, and then deposited the resulting clean bills into a series of bank accounts throughout Nevada and various off-shore entities. He kept some of the money for himself, of course, and it was just a fraction of what he was sending to people he’d never met, but that fraction made his previous annual salary look like an allowance. 

Three security officers, two men and a woman, were standing by window when Leon approached to cash in his chips. He smiled brightly and touched two fingers to his brow as if doffing an imaginary cap. He winked at the woman, who looked as if she had stepped in something putrid and was fighting the urge to scrape it off her shoe.

“Are you the valets? Are you going to bring my car around for me?”

“You had a good day,” the taller security man said.

Leon shrugged. “Almost broke even. But the important thing is that I had fun, right big guy?” He patted the guy on the arm. It was like slapping a tree. “So I’ll just get a check for my winnings and I’ll be out of your hair. At least until next time.”

“Yeah. Next time.”

He looked at the shorter guard who had spoken. “Very good! Maybe by the time I come back you’ll have figured out complete sentences.” He stepped between the men and deposited his chips at the window. As the number was tallied and the check was printed out, he turned and rested his elbow on the table to examine the three guards. “You three remind me of something. It’s right... aha! Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. You ever watch that cartoon? Animaniacs? You guys are the Warner Brothers. And the Warner Sister.” He winked at the woman again and her jaw tightened. “You guys are much too tense. You know what they say, the customer is always right.”

“Not in Vegas,” the shorter and taciturn guard said.

“Right. Vegas is a roach motel. People come and they’re supposed to willingly empty their pockets into your coffers. You bitches just cannot stand it when one of us chumps actually wins.”

The tall guard, Yakko, said, “Yeah. And when one of them just keeps on winning, it makes us wonder what that bitch is up to.”

“Just playing a game, man. Playing it well. Breaking even. No harm, no foul, right?” He winked, took his check, and fished a five-dollar bill out of his pocket. He tucked it into the breast pocket of Dot’s jacket, making sure the backs of his fingers lingered a little longer than necessary before he pulled his hand back. He could tell she wanted to hit him, and he dared her to do it by smiling brightly. “So where did we fall on the whole valet thing? Are you getting my car or aren’t you?”

“Thank you for choosing the Shenandoah, Mr. Singh. Feel free to check out any of the other casinos on the Strip the next time you’re in the mood to gamble.”

Leon looked horrified. “And sacrifice the personal service I get here? Not on your life, Yakko.” He slapped the big man on the stomach with the back of his hand, nearly bruising his knuckles in the process. He chuckled as they parted to let him pass, and he resisted the urge to look back as he strolled out of the casino. There were no more mob enforcers in Vegas, and for that he was glad. He knew that if they still settled things the old way, the Warner Brothers would have dragged him to a car, put a hood over his head, and he’d have disappeared into the vast emptiness outside of town. The town had been Disney-fied.

He was safe.

#

The club was playing the Killers when Leon entered, and he shouted his drink order over the chorus of “Somebody Told Me” before turning to examine that night’s talent. It had been a while since he was young enough to be anyone’s first choice in a situation like this. He had a bit too much salt in his hair, but he was still fit and attractive enough. The suit made all the difference; age didn’t matter so much when there was money and taste to back it up. He bought drinks for a couple of prospects, had a few conversations in quiet corners, and brought up his job just so he could be vague about what exactly he did. He made sure every woman he spoke to saw the heft of his wallet when he took it out to buy another round.

When he got up to visit the little boys’ room, he spotted a sexy young girl lounging against the wall. Her skin was paler than most of the other girls in the club, definitely implying a recently-arrived tourist, and her red hair was cut short in a pixie cut. She wore a shimmering green dress that left her shoulders, upper chest, and most of her legs on show. Leon felt pulled across the crowd to get near her, and he flashed a smile as he approached. She looked nervous as he closed in and his smile widened. Innocent and young, fresh off the bus from Iowa or Idaho, and she’d just encountered a wolf.

“Hey, darlin’. If you’re still here when I get back, I’d like to buy you a drink.”

“I don’t really drink.” There was a tremor in her voice.

He grinned and chuffed her chin with his knuckle. “That’s okay. We can figure out something for me to buy you.” He winked and continued on his quest to relieve his bladder. He used the urinal, washed his hands in the sink, and went back out to find his cinnamon Tinkerbell again. He stood on his toes to scan the crowd and finally spotted her on the dance floor. To his surprise, she was dancing with another woman. Most of the other people in the club were watching the spectacle, and Leon found his attention drawn as well. 

Tinkerbell’s partner was taller than her, at least a decade older, and gorgeous in an inexplicable way Leon couldn’t quite figure out. Her cheekbones were sharp, her hair slicked back, and she wore a blazer and slacks as if she had simply forgotten her blouse on the way to a business meeting. Maybe it was the way she pressed against Tinkerbell’s hip, the possessive hand in the small of the girl’s back, or maybe it was the intensity with which she locked eyes with the girl as their hips swayed to the music. He wet his lips and ran his eyes down their bodies until the song ended, then he smiled and moved closer as Tinkerbell left the dance floor with her taller partner.

“Looks like you found someone who had something you wanted.”

“I don’t know,” the girl said. “I’ve never been with a woman before. But she’s hot.”

Leon looked at the older woman. “Yeah. Yeah, she definitely is that.”

The taller woman slid her hand over the bare skin of the younger girl’s shoulder, and he saw goosebumps rising on the porcelain flesh in its wake. She tensed to fight a shiver.

“Would it make you more comfortable if there was a man there tonight?” she purred.

Leon’s interest was piqued. It was one thing to have a threesome when he paid for the women to act like they were into each other. This was a whole different animal, and it was something even he couldn’t have paid for. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to act casual as the girl considered the proposal. He didn’t want to queer the deal by being too eager so he scanned the crowd as she thought about it. When she finally spoke, it was in the middle of “Miss Atomic Bomb,” and Leon felt as if he’d been caught in the blast.

“Sure. I guess. Yeah... yes. I’d like that a lot.”

Leon smiled and raised his eyebrows. “Best offer I’ve heard all night. I’m Leon.”

“Hi, Leon. I’m Joss, and this is my friend. Echo.”

“Echo?” he said, certain he’d misheard. 

Joss put her hand on Echo’s shoulder and squeezed, then snaked her arm around Leon’s waist to pull him close to them both. 

“Because everything I do to you, she’s going to do it right after me.”

Leon chuckled nervously and put his arms around them. “Hell, ladies. That sounds like a game plan if ever I heard one. How about we get out of here and find somewhere quieter?”

#

Joss turned out to be a flight attendant on Delta, while Echo was a college student who was letting loose for the first time to celebrate passing her finals. Leon was far too eager for what was going to happen to think about the fact it was far too early for finals, or even for Spring Break. The thought did occur to him, of course, but he was far too distracted by Joss’ hand in his lap as he drove them back to his house. Normally his place was off-limits, but this was rare air. He was going to have a threesome with one of the most beautiful girls he’d seen all week and... well, Joss wasn’t exactly a beauty queen, but on the sliding scale of threesomes, she might as well have been a supermodel. She was attractive, sure, just not his usual. Preferences like blonde to brunette or big tits to flat chest went right out the window when two women were involved.

The point was that he didn’t want to risk the deal by going to a hotel. There were too many variables involved with that, too many chances for one or both of them to decide it would be best to just call it a night. He wanted to control the entire evening. Besides, all his cool shit was at his house. Sound system that would blow their skirts off, all kinds of illicit substances that would help make them a little more amenable and loosen some of Echo’s apprehensions, and oh, the special items he had hidden in the bedroom. He was thinking about those hen Joss’ hand moved higher between his legs, which made it hard for him to concentrate on the road.

“Easy! Save it for later, unless you want to get us all killed.”

Joss chuckled and looked over her shoulder at Echo in the backseat. “Wouldn’t want that, would we?” She moved her hand up and Leon focused on the road ahead of them.

He pulled up in the driveway and climbed out of her car. He was hard and desperate to stay that way as he fumbled with his keys. Joss and Echo came up the front walk behind him, and he pushed the door open and ushered them inside.

“Ladies, welcome to Casa de Singh. Make yourselves at home, and I’ll make us some drinks. What will you take?”

“Manhattan,” Joss said. “Echo will take a Scotch.”

“Sure,” Echo said. “Sounds good.”

He pointed finger guns at them, pointed them to the living room, and hustled to start the drinks. “The stereo is on the bookshelf. Put on whatever you like.” He took down the glasses and tried to remember how to make a Manhattan. He wasn’t going to make anything alcoholic for himself. He wanted a clear mind for what was about to happen. He wanted the memories. He made the drinks, still hard, heart still thudding as he imagined the possibilities ahead of him. He hummed one of the Killers songs that had played at the club, half-dancing as he carried the two drinks down the hall into the living room. He noticed it was silent and smiled.

“What’s the matter? Couldn’t find anything you liked?” He looked up and saw Echo aiming a gun at him. “Holy--”

Joss pressed against him from behind and pressed a Taser into his side. He dropped the glasses as she activated it, his legs turning into putty as he fell forward onto the carpet. Joss knelt on him, her knee digging into the small of his back. She pulled his arms back and crossed them at the wrists, and Echo came forward to wrap a cord around them.

“Oo ah oo?” he slurred.

“Who are we?” Joss said. “We’re representatives of the people you’ve been scamming. The ones you’ve turned into accomplices with your money laundering. They wanted you to know exactly who was coming after you and why this is happening. They wanted you to know you didn’t get away with it. They wanted you to know that you were only still breathing because it was too much of a hassle to wipe you out. But I guess you went too far or got too cocky. They decided you were a nuisance. They decided to get rid of you once and for all, Mr. Singh.”

“Way’h,” he gasped. “Wait! I hah... I have money. I have so much money. Please! The, the fuh-fallout shelter in the garage. Combination, uh, it’s, the combination is 5-7-88. There’s so much money. They’ll never know if any is missing. Seriously, you can take as much as you want. Please, just let me live.” He was sobbing into his carpet, no longer worried about looking macho in front of two women. He’d voided his bladder and could barely feel the rest of his body.

“It’s a shame,” Joss said. “You probably could have bought off a couple of mob goombas. They might have left you in the middle of the desert to get home by yourself, but for the right price the might have walked away without killing you.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat and whimpered. “Please...”

“Sorry, Leon. The mob doesn’t rule Vegas anymore.”


	21. Chapter 21

The client requested they leave a mess, and Joss was grateful that she didn’t have to worry about cleaning blood and piss out of the carpet under Leon Singh’s body. Echo opened her purse and took out the rolled clothing she’d tucked away inside of it, then they both stripped out of their party clothes and changed into black jeans and T-shirts. Joss sent Echo to find shoes so they wouldn’t have to leave in high heels; she’d been wearing them all night and her feet felt numb. It wasn’t an ideal situation for fleeing a crime scene. She fished through the pockets of Leon’s blazer and sorted through the chips she found there. She left chips for the Shenandoah, the Oceanic, and the Oasis Casinos scattered around his body as per the client’s instructions. The cops would investigate, but they would find no connection between the casino bosses and the dead man. But anyone who wanted to cheat would get the message loud and clear.

Echo came down the hall from the garage. “Joss. You have to see this.”

Joss left Leon’s corpse on the floor and followed Echo back outside. The fallout shelter was centered in a space large enough to fit a car on either side of it, and Echo had input the combination to lift its hatch. They approached the edge and peered down into a pool of money. The bills were stacked and bound, but they seemed to have been carelessly dropped and left to settle against each other. Joss crouched and craned her head to the side.

“It can’t fill the entire space. Do you have any idea how much money that would be?”

“No,” Echo said. “And that’s just it. Leon said his bosses didn’t know, either.”

Joss looked up at her. “What are you thinking?”

Echo shrugged. “It’s money, right? I mean... free cash just sitting here.”

Joss stood up and brushed her hands together. “I already have more money than I can spend, and each job gets me even more. I don’t need any of this.” She thought for a moment and then looked at Echo. “You could take some.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Get away from your parents, get away from your life. Find a spot to lie low while you’re waiting for Myles to call. You could be free, never have to worry about anything in between jobs. Just relax. The cops are just going to confiscate all of this anyway. You think they won’t be skimming a little off the top?”

“It’s stealing.”

Joss laughed.

“Oh, you... you know what I meant. It’s drug money.”

“So? It’s clean. It’s just not exactly tax deductible. You’d have to find some way to justify where you got it. A friend’s inheritance or winning the lottery. Hell, head to the casino. You won’t have to worry about explaining to people where you’re going all the time.” She thought for a moment. “Where do you tell people you’re going?”

Echo smiled. “I go for long drives. I tell them I’m still suffering flashbacks from what happened in the therapist’s office, and they give me space. Mom actually gave me some cash for a hotel last time. I told her not to, but...” She shrugged. “Then I fly out, do the job, and come back home. They think I’m working through some issues. And this really helped.” She touched her hair. “Mom said it was like I’m trying to figure out who I am.”

“Aren’t you?”

“No. I know exactly who I am. And it’s not a college student, and it’s not a business administrator. I’m meant to be doing this.”

Joss bent down and retrieved a stack of fifty-thousand dollars. She placed it in Echo’s hand, folding her fingers around it. 

“This is how you achieve that. Buy a cottage somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Be that mysterious lady who disappears for days and weeks at a time. Somewhere isolated, where you have a lot of room to run and train. Hell, get a real part-time job so you can have some mad money to live on. But this is your ticket to adult life, Echo.”

She looked at the money in her hands. “I don’t know.”

“I do. You earned it.”

“You’re the one who had to give him a hand job in the car.”

Joss chuckled. “No skin ever came in contact with skin. If I thought you would take it, I would gladly give you the money from my own savings.”

“Even after New Orleans? You still trust me after that whole shitstorm?”

“You did your best. You made your mistake and you learned from it. The important thing is that when you made your mistake you didn’t run away and you didn’t surrender.”

Echo looked at the money and Joss knew there was no way she would leave without it. “How much do you think I could take?”

“Well...” Joss crouched again and looked, then began taking stacks off the top. When she was finished there was no noticeable decrease in the size of the money pit. She held the pile with both arms and counted the stacks. “Nine stacks, plus the one you’re holding. That’s half a million dollars.”

“Holy shit. I can’t steal half a million dollars.”

Joss sighed. “Would it make you feel better if _I_ stole it and then just gave it to you?”

Echo thought. “Oddly, yeah. I think it would.”

Joss loaded her pockets with the stolen loot, then bent down and took another stack off the pile. When Echo watched her take it, Joss shrugged. “Finders’ fee.”

Echo chuckled and held Joss stow the money in her various pockets. When they were done they closed the fallout shelter, spun the combination lock, and went back into the house to finish the second half of their mission.

#

The desert sun rose early in Vegas, and Joss woke when it began to illuminate the sliding glass door off the kitchen. Leon was still where he had fallen, and Echo had set up a box fan between the kitchen and living room to keep the reek from spreading. Joss stood and did a quick set of exercises to limber up before she went to find Echo. The girl was sitting in the room that faced the front of the house, out of sight but where she could see the driveway. She was asleep, and Joss lightly stroked the hair off her cheek. Echo murmured, and then her eyelids fluttered as she woke. She wet her lips and sat up straighter to look outside.

“Did they come?”

“No,” Joss said softly. “Do you know how beautiful you are when you sleep?”

Echo blinked up at her, at a loss for a response, and Joss stroked her cheek with the pad of her thumb. She smiled and turned away, leaving Echo half-awake and completely confused. She eventually got up and followed Joss into the main room. They sat at the breakfast table and listened to the sounds of the neighborhood coming awake around them. Joss perked up when she heard the car engine nearby, then the hollow thud of a door closing. She stood up and Echo moved to stand in the front hallway.

Their guest was a frequent visitor to Leon Singh’s. Every night that Leon spent at the casino, Lawrence Mancuso arrived bright and early the next morning to collect their employer’s clean cash. He rapped the back of his knuckles twice against the door and let himself in without waiting for a response. Mancuso was an older man, bald and so cragged he looked carved from stone. He was a former boxer, and his body was a tight coil of muscle. He was looking at his keys as he entered the room. “Yo, Leon. How much you clean this time?” He looked up and saw Echo at the head of the hallway and stopped. “Oh. Hello, sweetheart. Leon get lucky last night?”

Joss stepped out of the kitchen behind him and pressed a gun against the base of his skull. Mancuso inhaled with surprised, but let the air out with resignation. Echo took out her gun and aimed it at the man as well, and he held his hands out to the side to show he wasn’t fighting.

“No, Larry. Leon did not get lucky last night. Want to see how unlucky he was? Walk forward. Slowly.”

He did as she said, but on the second step he threw his weight back and to the left. He swung his elbow up and hit air, thrown off-balance as Joss punched him in the kidneys. He cried out and dropped to his knees, and Joss wrapped her arm around his to twist it painfully backward. He arched his back and grunted with pain.

“You looked at where my friend was aiming and said to yourself, ‘surely she wouldn’t be aiming at her partner’s head.’ So you took a guess and assumed I was standing to your left. That was stupid, Larry. Very stupid. Because now I know you’re just looking for an opening and I have to make you do something humiliating just to protect myself. Drop down. Hands and knees.”

“Look, my knees, they’re shot all to hell...”

“Not yet. But they could be.” She tapped the back of his head with her gun. “Crawl.”

He sighed and dropped down, crawling over the tile with increasingly pained grunts. When he reached the edge of the living room the smell hit him and he recoiled. “Ah, Jesus.”

“Find another way to launder your money. The casinos are sick of seeing your business. You have about half an hour before the police get an anonymous tip to come check out sounds of a disturbance. You’ll probably need most of that time to figure out the combination of Leon’s fallout shelter. Move quick, Mr. Mancuso. You won’t get all the cash out, but you can minimize your losses if you hurry.”

She motioned at the door with her head, and Echo lowered her gun and left. Joss backed away from Mancuso and then followed. They had Leon’s keys and would use his car to get as far away from the house as possible. She heard Mancuso get up and start moving before she was out the door, but he was moving away from her and toward the garage. Outside on the front walk, Echo finished dialing Leon’s cell phone and then tossed it into the bushes. The police would be there in under ten minutes, but Joss didn’t feel any qualms about lying to the drug dealer who would be caught in the house with a dead body. Even if Mancuso was free, he was hardly the type of guy who would admit he’d been taken down by two women.

They abandoned Leon’s car behind a nearby strip mall and walked to the lot where they’d left their own car. During their walk they were passed by police cars going the other direction with lights and sirens flashing. They slowed down and watched the cars streak pass as any ordinary citizen would, then resumed their casual stroll.

“When do we have to be back in Sacramento?”

“Thirty-six hours,” Joss said. “I was thinking we could use some of my finders’ fee to celebrate a successful job.”

Echo smiled. “What did you have in mind?”

#

The Black Keys were playing in the club, and Joss was reminded of dinner with Beauregard and Devlin. She and Echo found seats near the stage, and Echo carefully lowered herself into the chair without taking her eyes off the dancer currently undressing on the catwalk. The club had three stages, and Joss chose a table near the far wall so they could see all three dancers at the same time.

“Have you ever been to a strip club before?”

Echo shook her head. “I’ve thought about it, but it always just seemed weird to go alone. And it seemed weird to ask someone to come with me.”

“Is it weird to have someone invite you?”

“No. God, she’s gorgeous.” She turned to look at the topless waitresses buzzing around the tables with drink trays held high so their breasts weren’t covered. “They’re all so gorgeous! I always kind of thought women in strip clubs would be... well, I mean, they’d...”

Joss said, “This is Vegas. Everyone looks like a supermodel in Vegas.”

A waitress approached and placed two glasses of water on their table. “Evening, ladies. I’m Tricia, and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.”

“Hi, Tricia. I’m Joss, and this is my friend...”

“Erica.”

Joss smiled at the way Echo’s eyes had widened when the waitress approached. “Scotch for me. She’ll take a gin and tonic. Also I’d like to buy her a private dance. Are you available for that?”

Tricia’s smile widened. “Yes, ma’am. We help out at the bar when we’re not on stage.”

“No! No, tha-that’s not...”

Joss put her hand on Echo’s thigh and locked eyes with her. “You deserve it.”

Echo swallowed and smiled at the waitress, torn between desire and wanting to remain inconspicuous. “Uh. Yeah. Sure.”

The waitress winked at Echo and stepped around Joss’ seat to rest a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll go get your drinks, and then I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes. You’ll get three songs for a hundred bucks.” She turned back to Joss and flipped her hair out of her face. “If your friend wants to watch... tell you what. If she wants to watch, it’ll be free.”

Echo chuckled nervously. “Okay. Uh. Okay, cool.”

“See you soon, sweetie.”

Tricia walked away and Echo bashfully watched her go, smiling behind her hand before she kicked the side of Joss’ shoe. “What was that for?”

“Bonus. I’ll pay it out of my finders’ fee. This is another lesson in the life. Once you’re finished with the job, you can’t let your guard down. You have to be careful about getting caught. There’s a dead person in town and you might look very suspicious trying to leave town immediately afterward. This is a transition. This is how you go from someone on the lam to someone who is just on their way home.” She sipped her water. “You replace what you’re walking away from. If you’re walking away from a crime, you’ll feel guilty. But if you’re walking away from something you enjoyed, you’ll be relaxed and calm. Your body language will be your disguise.”

Tricia brought over their drinks, leaning down between them and giving Echo a quick smile before she retreated. “Give me a high-sign when you’re ready and I’ll come get you, okay? I’m going to go put something on so I have something to take off.” Echo managed to nod and the waitress disappeared. 

Echo lifted her drink and tilted it back, wincing at the alcohol but still swallowing a decent portion before she put the glass down. She touched her wrist to her lips and looked over her shoulder to see if her waitress had returned yet. She relaxed in her seat and took another drink, touching her tongue to her top lip when it was gone.

“How do you find women after a job? I mean, women you don’t have to pay for a no-touch dance.”

“There are a lot of ways,” Joss said. “Bars and such.”

“You just walk up to women? I can’t do that in my real life, let alone when I have to watch my back.”

Joss said, “It’s easier after a job. You’re not at home, you’re out in the world. You’re surrounded by people you know you’ll never see again. You can be anyone you want to be. Be Echo Barrett, not whoever you are when you get off the plane at home. Be accountable to yourself and no one else. If you see something you like, be willing to take it. The worst that can happen is they say no, and what do you care? You’ll just walk away and find someone else, and in the morning you’re half a country away.”

Echo thought about that for a long moment. “My name’s not really Erica.”

“I figured. I prefer Echo anyway.”

“Me too.”

Joss looked back and saw Tricia approaching. She had changed into a black bra and matching panties, her curves mostly hidden by a sheer robe. She smiled when she saw Joss watching and waved her fingers. Joss nudged Echo, who tensed when she saw what Tricia had changed into.

“Wow. That is worth way more than a hundred bucks.”

“Then tip generously. You can afford it.”

“Yeah.” Echo finished her drink for the liquid courage and motioned for Tricia to come over. She looked at Joss and raised her eyebrows. “Are you going to watch?”

Joss looked at Tricia, then locked eyes with Echo.

“What the hell.” She took a long drink from her glass and put it back on the table before pushing her chair back. “Free’s free.” She took Echo’s hand, squeezed it, and stood to let Tricia lead them away.


	22. Chapter 22

The private dances happened in a side room with plush loveseats ringing the perimeter against the wall. Each seat was blocked off by curtains that were open to the middle of the room for the safety of the dancers. Joss offered Tricia Echo’s hand, and the dancer led the younger woman to one of the furthest seats, offering them a modicum of privacy. She turned on the ball of one foot, twisting her long legs as she pointed to a seat Joss could take. Joss smiled as she settled in and leaned back, crossing one leg over the other as Echo nervously sat in the hot seat. She looked past Tricia with an expression of horror and excitement, and Joss winked at her.

The music started, an Arctic Monkeys song called “Arabella,” and Echo leaned back as Tricia began to dance. It was immediately apparent that she was worth a hundred dollars for three songs; Joss wasn’t a dancer and couldn’t choreograph anything outside a fight, but Tricia obviously knew what she was doing. She swung her hips and used her whole body to symbolize the beat of the music, twisting her arms as she lifted them over her head. 

The robe came off and was draped over one arm of the chair as Tricia turned to face her customer. Echo pressed back into the chair, eyes wide as she balled her hands into fists on her thighs. Tricia arched her back and lightly lifted Echo’s right hand, massaging the fingers with her thumb until they relaxed. She moved the hand to her hip, and Echo obediently placed her left hand without being prompted. Joss moved her hand between her legs, working her fingers against the crotch of her pants and rocking forward slowly as she watched Tricia slowly lower herself onto Echo’s lap.

The bra came off and Tricia leaned forward, cupping the back of Echo’s head to draw her closer. Echo closed her eyes as she was cradled to the stripper’s chest, and Joss preemptively reached into her pocket. Echo’s tongue flicked out against the nipple and Joss saw Tricia tense slightly, look back at her with her lips parted to protest, and Joss held up two hundred dollar bills. She folded it half and rolled her wrist to imply there was more available, and Tricia resumed grinding.

Echo turned her head and kissed between Tricia’s breasts, then leaned back as Tricia’s knees dug into the cushion on either side of her. Tricia put her hand on the front of Echo’s shirt and curled her fingers in the material, using her as leverage as she pressed down and rubbed herself hard against Echo. Echo’s hands, which had remained on Tricia’s hips the entire time, slipped lower and squeezed her ass. Tricia looked back and Joss raised her thumb and flicked it upward. Tricia shrugged and reached down between them. Echo gasped and said something that was lost under the beat of the music, but she heard Tricia whisper, “It’s okay.”

Joss wasn’t aware the second song had started until she heard it end. In the lull between it and the final song, she heard the rasp of a zipper as Tricia straightened and then pushed her hand into Echo’s pants. Echo arched her back and parted her lips as Joss rubbed between her legs, watching Tricia’s arm move as she tried to finish before the song ended. Echo twisted to the left and dropped back with a choked cry, trembling and pulling Tricia tight against her as she came. Tricia was whispering something Joss had no hope of overhearing, and then bent down to lightly brush her lips against Echo’s. It was more of a gesture than a true kiss, but Echo’s entire body went limp.

Tricia leaned back and rose off Echo’s lap, leaving her unzipped and sated. She hooked her robe on one finger and wrapped it around herself as she turned to Joss.

“We don’t normally provide those services,” she said, arms crossed but not exactly angry. “You and your... girlfriend?”

Joss decided it was easier to nod.

“Well, it seemed right with you two. But for that, it’ll be more than a hundred. Sorry, but--”

“No, I understand.” Joss took out her wallet, which she had loaded with cash from Leon’s stash. She saw Tricia’s eyes widen at the sight of its girth and counted out fifty Benjamin Franklins. “Will that cover it?”

“Hell yeah. You want me to go down on her, too?”

Joss grinned. “That’s fine. I think you satisfied her for now. Thanks for the show.”

“Sure thing, sweetie. Let me know if you’d like a dance of your own before you head out.”

Tricia left, and Joss went to Echo. She sat next to her and watched until her eyes opened and she was able to push herself up into a sitting position.

“That was a good dance,” she said.

Joss said, “One of the best I’ve seen.”

“Did you pay?”

“Yeah. You were a little too indisposed, might have given her all the cash we had.”

“She earned it.”

Joss laughed. “Put yourself back together. We’ll catch another dance, maybe get something to eat, and then we’ll start out for Sacramento.”

“Okay. Joss... what you said about replacing the experience?” Joss nodded. “I think I’m still going to act guilty when I think about what just happened.”

Joss stood up. “That’s okay. That’s just Vegas guilt. It’s normal. Button your pants and let’s go finish our drinks.”

#

Tricia had a turn on the stage before they left the club, and Joss convinced Echo to give her another fifty. Tricia crouched and turned her legs to the side so Echo could slip it under the strap of her G-string. She winked and straightened up, turning her hips and kicking up her legs as she strutted back to the pole. She hooked her fingers around it, swung in a wide circle, and swayed her hips as she dropped back down. The girl was popular with the crowd, and she had a fair amount of tips waiting to be gathered when she left the stage. She winked at Joss and Echo before she tossed the curtain aside and disappeared into the back of the club.

Joss and Echo decided to leave, since no dancer would top Tricia’s performance, and they headed for the door. Echo squinted as they stepped back out into the sun and heat. Even Joss was startled by the change in atmosphere, and she slid on a pair of sunglasses as they walked across the asphalt to their car. Before getting in, Joss shed her T-shirt and exchanged it for a white tank top. She put on her sunglasses and waited for Echo to get in the car before she started the engine. A blast of lukewarm air burst forth from the dashboard vents, and Joss hoped it would become a semblance of cool soon. They left Vegas behind and were soon the only car driving north in the midday heat.

“Can I tell you what I do between calls?”

“Sure,” Joss said.

“I hide away. My parents want to bug me about the trips I’ve been taking, and they keep asking me to see a psychiatrist. Why would I ever want to go back to a shrink after what the one I killed supposedly did? Although...” She chuckled. “You know, you’re kind of like my new psychiatrist. You’re the first person who has ever made me feel normal. I love being around you because I don’t have to fake anything. I can finally be who I’m supposed to be. I guess that’s what you were saying about the hook-up thing. I don’t have to put on a show for you.”

“I’m glad.”

Echo looked at her. “Thank you for the money. I’m going to use it. When I go back this time, I’m going to tell them I need a change of scenery. I’m not sure where I’ll go, but anywhere they can’t pop in to check on me. I’m sitting here thinking about cutting everyone I know out of my life, all my friends, my family, my professors, my classmates. And the only person I’m worried about never seeing again is you. I spent my whole life trying to wedge myself into a box and then you showed up in my car and fucking threatened me.” She laughed. “You made me the person I’ve been trying to be for my entire life. I could never repay you for that.”

“You’re very welcome, Echo.” She was willing to let it drop there but, after a few false starts, she finally managed to voice her other thought. “You’re the first person in a very long time that I’ve cared for. Maybe the first since...” She closed her lips and sucked her teeth for a moment, then finished. “Since the first and only person I ever loved. I lost her and after that I never really felt much for anyone else. I’m honored.”

Joss nodded once and focused on the horizon.

They drove through the rest of Nevada without speaking beyond idle chitchat. They saw a truck stop and got something to eat, along with snacks to tide them over until they were back to civilization. Echo munched on potato chips, her feet in the seat with her legs tucked up against her chest. Joss occasionally glanced over, stunned at how quickly she could transform back into a harmless college student. The third or fourth time Joss looked over Echo finally said, “What? What is it?”

“You’re going to be amazing at this work, Echo. You really are.”

“Oh.” She licked the salt from her lips and shrugged. “Well. I have a great teacher.”

“I have to go back to my husband,” Joss said, apropos of nothing. “You were right. I can’t just cut them loose, and it’ll be better for everyone involved if I just find a way to stick it out.”

Echo lifted a shoulder. “Sorry.”

“No, you were right. You gave me much needed perspective. I was so eager to get free that I didn’t think far enough ahead. If I let him divorce me it’ll cause way too many problems.”

“Better the devil you know, huh?”

“Truer words, Echo.”

They arrived in Sacramento just after dark, leaving behind the harsher temperatures of Nevada far behind them. Joss found a hotel near the airport but not so near that they would be flooded with tourists. Joss checked them into a room with two beds and helped Echo take the bags up to their room. Echo sat on the foot of her bed and looked out the window, then watched as Joss took some of the clothes from her bag and started hanging them up.

“This was a lot more like a vacation than a job. I mean... watching him was pretty easy. And we basically just spent the whole four days hanging out in the casino. I won seventy-dollars.”

“You won five hundred thousand and seventy-five dollars.”

Echo chuckled. “Well, sure, you could put it like that.” She bent down and took off her shoes. “But mostly I just hung out with you. It was great. It was one of the best weeks of my life.”

Joss ran her hand down the sleeve of the blouse she had just hung up. “Mine too.”

“Sure.”

“I’m serious,” Joss said. She walked around and stood next to Echo, who looked up at her. Joss cupped Echo’s face and extended her thumb to brush it across the girl’s bottom lip. She took a breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes and raising her eyebrows as Echo kissed the pad and then scraped her bottom teeth across it. “I slept with two people I’ve really cared about in my life. Every other time it was biology, lust, or to protect a cover. Or to get their guard down so I could finish my job. I don’t connect love to sex. But something stopped me from using you the way I normally would have. You were more than that, Echo. From the beginning, I knew you would be more than that.”

“Joss...”

“Sh.” She bent down and kissed Echo’s lips. Echo stretched so Joss wouldn’t have to stretch as much, scooting further back on the bed as she kicked off her shoe. Joss kept her eyes open as they kissed and watched as Echo’s eyes closed. The girl’s hands felt small and cold on Joss’ cheeks before they pushed back into her hair, tangling with the cord Joss had used to tie her hair back during the drive. It came loose, moist from sweat and it made her shiver when it dragged along her neck to settle around her face. Joss stroked Echo’s hair and urged her to lie back, and Echo complied. 

Joss climbed onto the bed and stretched out next to her. They continued kissing, Joss’ tongue thrusting into Echo’s mouth and then curling back. Echo whimpered something that sounded like Joss’ name before the kiss continued, and Joss twisted to put her thigh between Echo’s legs. Echo dragged her fingernails down Joss’ bare arms, then moved back up to the collar of her tank top. She flattened her palms and massaged the cotton covering her breasts.

Echo was still wearing a T-shirt and she twisted back, arms over her head, as Joss lifted the shirt up and off of her. Echo gripped the tank top and Joss helped her take it off. They fell against each other again, arms intertwined so they could unhook each other’s bras. Joss was breathing heavily when she broke the kiss, sitting up on her knees to straddle Echo’s thigh. Echo dropped her hands to either side of her head and admired Joss sitting astride her like a conqueror, then crossed her hands at the wrist over her head. Her hair was splayed around her head like a sunburst, and Joss dragged the side of her hand down the middle of Echo’s chest like a blade. Echo squirmed and her lips worked hard to contain a whimper of need as Joss unbuttoned her pants.

“What were you thinking about when that stripper fingered you?”

“You,” Echo moaned. “Watching.”

“Did it make you wet?”

“Yeah...”

Joss scooted down to get the pants off, and Echo lifted her legs to assist. Joss left her underwear on for the time being and lowered herself onto her elbows. She pressed her hand against the crotch of Echo’s underwear, but Echo surprised her by taking her fingers and lifting it off.

“I have to know before you do this. Is it going to be reciprocal this time?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“I don’t want to do it if the answer is no.”

Joss pulled her hand free and put it back. Echo’s eyes closed and Joss moved the heel of her hand in slow circles. “It’s reciprocal, Echo.”

“Then fuck me, Joss.”

Joss turned her head to kiss Echo’s thigh. Echo cupped her breasts and squeezed the nipples, lifting her ass off the bed to meet Joss’ hand. She lifted her head between her hunched shoulders and gasped a question.

“How many people have you killed with those hands?”

Joss had to think for a moment. “Ninety-six.”

“Put your fingers inside me.”

Joss pushed the underwear inside, pausing just long enough to slip two fingers into her mouth to make them wet before she rubbed the knuckles against the labia. Echo gasped and gripped the blankets, closing her eyes as she tightened her inner muscles so Joss had to work a little harder to get inside her. Joss twisted her wrist and pushed, leaning down and taking Echo’s clit into her mouth through her thin underwear. Echo arched her back and cried out.

“Joss, you’re killing me...”

“You don’t count as ninety-seven.”

Echo chuckled throatily and writhed. “Don’t make me laugh... gotta... come.” The last word was a groan, and her elbows dug into the mattress as she tensed. Josh continued to twist her wrist, thrusting in a slow rhythm until Echo reached down and touched her forehead. Joss backed off, her lips wet with Echo’s juices, both of them gasping as Joss withdrew her fingers and tasted Echo off of them. She was still savoring the taste when Echo suddenly sat up, grabbed Joss’ shoulders, and wrestled her back. They fell off the bed and Joss slowed her fall by bracing one arm against the floor as Echo perched on top of her. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not giving you a chance to back off.”

“You think you’re in charge?”

Echo slapped Joss hard across the face, something that was too shocking to hurt and too surprising to make her made. The sting spread, and Joss faced the girl with renewed pride. “I might make you pay for that, little girl.”

“You’re welcome to... when it’s your turn again. Take your pants off.”

“Make me.”

Echo grinned. The two wrestled for a moment, Joss reaching for Echo only to have her hands slapped away. She twisted, kicked, and fought until finally her pants were off and she was lying face-down on the carpet with Echo on top of her. Echo had taken her panties down as well so she was naked with Echo on top of her wearing only a thin, wet pair of panties. Joss panted for her to wait, and Echo slowed to a stop.

“Wait... stop.”

“What?”

“Just...” Joss closed her eyes, pinned, Echo’s breasts against her back. Joss spread her legs and closed her eyes as Echo instinctively settled between them. “Hold me down,” Joss whispered. Echo did as she was told, her lips in Joss’ hair, and after a few moments of stillness Echo began to rock her hips. Joss grunted her approval and lifted her lower body to meet Echo’s thrusts. Soon they were both gasping and moving erratically. Joss reached back and Echo found her hand, their fingers clasped together, and Joss felt her orgasm building. She grimaced and dropped her cheek to the carpet, her body making a pyramid to meet Echo’s thrusts, Echo’s body rubbing against Joss’ sex with each upward stroke.

The orgasm that hit her was much more powerful than she expected. She trembled and cursed under her breath, then stretched out flat against the floor. Echo lay on top of her and kissed through Joss’ hair until she found her cheek. Joss lifted her head and their lips met, and Echo slid her arms around her waist.

They stayed like that until the sweat cooled from their bodies, and until both of them were breathing normally again. 

“I love you, Joss.”

Joss was quiet for a very long time. “I love you, too.”

For the first time in nearly two decades, she was startled to discover she truly meant it.


	23. Chapter 23

They eventually got off the floor and moved to bed, where they slowly fell into another slow session of lovemaking. Echo ended up on top between Joss’ legs and guiding their rhythm. Joss bent her knee and dragged her toes over Echo’s calf as she pressed back into the pillows and gave up control. Echo kissed Joss’ exposed through and along her collar, nipping the skin of Joss’ shoulder with her teeth, face nestled against the curve of Joss’ neck as she made her mentor climax twice in quick succession. 

When Echo lifted her head, her hair was plastered to her forehead by sweat and her eyes were glazed. Joss sat up and found Echo’s lips, furrowing her brow as they kissed. She whispered that she needed a break and Echo went limp, settling against the crux of Joss’ thighs under the tangled sheets. She put her head on Joss’ chest, and Joss kissed the top of her head.

“I’ve been fantasizing about that.”

Joss smiled and brushed the sweat-darkened hair away from Echo’s face. “Yeah?”

“Mm-hmm. It was so amazing.”

“I’m glad I lived up to expectations.”

Echo smiled and chuckled drowsily. She turned her head and kissed Joss’ chest, then daintily licked a drop of sweat. Joss moved her hand from Echo’s hair down to her shoulder.

“Have you really only made love with that one person?”

Joss nodded. “It was easier to just fuck.”

“Tell me about the other woman. The one who was taken away from you.” She paused. “You don’t have to, I mean. I just. I want to know about her.”

“I haven’t talked about her in so long.” Joss sounded wistful, something she didn’t recognize in herself. She thought for a moment, accessed the room in her mind where she kept the memories. “When I was growing up, I alienated everyone. Even my friends thought I was just too much trouble. I wanted to be included but when I was, I would... I would just sit on the sidelines. I didn’t like big crowds and loud conversations. I just wanted to be with three or four people and when the crowd ballooned up beyond that I would shut down. People thought I was being bitchy or dour. 

“Crystal didn’t think that, though. She understood that the line between what I wanted and what I could handle was extremely thin. She didn’t mind if I wanted to just sit with her and read a book. Why don’t people understand that mere presence is enough? We have to fill up every moment with so much fucking noise.” She reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Crystal was fine with being quiet. I fell in love with her in the space between the noises. We were comfortable with each other. It was the first relationship I ever had that wasn’t hard.”

Echo traced a line around Joss’ nipple, watching it harden. “I’m sorry you lost her.”

“Me too. After that it was just easier to not care. I tried very hard not to care about you, Echo. I took away your name and gave you a noun, I treated you like a computer I had to program, and still somehow you wormed your way in.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Come here.” Echo sat up and Joss kissed her tenderly. “I feel more like myself with you than I’ve ever felt. I’m not hiding, I’m not running. You know everything about who I am and what I am, and you’re still right here. Thank you.”

Echo smiled shyly. “Wow. I get what I want, and _you’re_ thanking _me_. That’s so backwards, Joss.”

Joss smiled and brushed Echo’s cheek. “Are you hungry? We could get something to eat.”

“Sounds good,” Echo said. Joss started to sit up, but Echo pushed her down. She smiled and slid down the length of Joss’ body. Joss watched as Echo pushed her legs apart and licked her lips, and Joss laughed as she dropped back against the pillows.

“Not exactly what I meant, Miss Barrett. But by all means...”

#

Eventually they did have to go in search of food. Joss dressed in the bathroom and spent a long moment examining her face in the mirror before she began preparing herself. She and Crystal had only gone out to dinner or movies casually, and when her friends set her up with men it was always a pantomime. She went through the motions with no real attachment to the proceedings. In that way, going out to dinner with Echo under these circumstances might qualify as her first date. She didn’t have anything packed that felt appropriate, so she chose a white dress shirt open at the collar and a pair of grey slacks. 

When she came out of the bathroom she saw Echo sitting on the edge of the bed they hadn’t used, wearing a green blouse and a black skirt. She stood up and smiled nervously before looking down at herself. “How do I look?”

“Fantastic. Where did you get it?”

“I pack something nice every time Myles tells me to go somewhere. Just in case I wanted to dress up for you. I know, stupid.”

“No. I’m... touched.” She kissed the corner of Echo’s mouth. “You look lovely. If you’d like, I can call you by your real name tonight. If you’d like.”

“I told you, Joss. Echo is my real name. From the moment you gave it to me. Unless you want to know what my family calls me...”

Joss shook her head. “Echo works. Come on.” She took Echo’s hand and led her out of the room.

Joss was too preoccupied and anxious to appreciate the evening while in the moment. Later that evening when they undressed and got in bed together, she ran through the mental images of the night - dinner on an outdoor patio despite the chill in the air followed by slow dancing and a long walk back to the hotel, Joss pulled Echo to her and they kissed again.

“I’m happy.”

“Me too,” Echo said.

Joss wanted to explain the importance of the moment, wanted to explain that since Crystal the most she had ever allowed herself was satisfaction or contentment. She’d never been happy, never been truly content with her life or the world she was in. Contract killing was a job she could do well. Having two children was a way to look normal. Even her wedding planner had commented that Joss was very business-like about the entire affair. 

As Echo fell asleep on her chest, Joss stroked the younger woman’s back and looked out the window at the highway and tried coming to terms with the new and alien sensation that was currently blooming in her chest. In under twenty-four hours she would board a plane and fly back to the cold of South Dakota, and she would try to win back a husband she only wanted as a strategic chess piece. She would play wife, she was pretend at mothering, and she would drift along in neutral while she waited for a phone call.

But that was the future. And the happiness was, for now, all she cared about.

#

At the airport Joss took Echo’s hand after they left the car rental desk and walked into the terminal. They stopped near the baggage claim where they always parted ways, and Joss moved to stand in front of Echo.

“Pierre.”

Echo blinked. “I prefer Echo.”

Joss laughed and looked down at their joined hands. “No. That’s where I’m flying. I’m going home... to Pierre, South Dakota. I live there as Jocelyn Webb. If you ever need somewhere to go, or if you ever need a safe haven, Jocelyn can be where you run. I’ll come up with an excuse with the family, I’ll find a way to explain who you are, but I want you to be able to come find me if you ever need to.”

Echo’s eyes were wet. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Joss said. “You have the cash?”

“Yeah.” She patted the side of her carryon, where the half-million dollars was folded into her clothes. “I still think you should have taken some of it for yourself.”

“No. It’s yours. Take some time and think about how you want to use it, and then get free. It’s your first step to becoming who you want to be.”

Echo looked at the escalator and then looked back at Joss. “When you decide I’m ready... that’ll be it, won’t it? Myles will start sending me out on solo jobs, and I’ll never see you again.”

Joss felt something in her chest clench at the thought. She had been thinking along the same lines, but hearing Echo say it out loud truly brought it home. “It doesn’t have to be that way. We can work something out. Maybe I’ll kill Myles and take over as your pointman.”

Echo grinned. “I thought you didn’t kill for free.

“Oh, I’d make you pay me. You can afford it now.”

Echo laughed, and Joss kissed her while she was still smiling. The laugh turned into a moan as Echo cupped the back of her head to turn it into a more passionate clinch, and someone passing by offered a wolf whistle as Joss put her arms around the younger woman. 

“I’ll miss you,” Echo said against her mouth.

“I’ll miss you, too. Until next time, Miss Barrett.”

“Until then, ma’am.”

Joss stepped out of their embrace and Echo adjusted her bag’s strap on her shoulder. She grinned, bit her bottom lip, and finally turned to go up the escalator. Joss watched her go and then walked away. She had three hours to kill before her flight; just enough time, she hoped, to brace herself for the whiplash of exchanging her time with Echo for the irrelevant task of making her husband stay with her.

#

There was still snow on the lawns, but the streets of Pierre were clear when Jocelyn drove home. She was thinking about Echo, returning to mundane life in Waukegan with her ticket out tucked safely in her suitcase. She now had the freedom to walk away, to go wherever she wanted and do whatever she desired. Joss wondered what she would have done with the same opportunity at that age. Would she have been closing in on her hundredth kill? Would she simply have walked away and found some cottage in the woods where she could live off the land? She imagined a small cabin, hunting in a thick gray sweater and jeans, dressing her kill and going weeks without seeing another soul.

She parked in the driveway next to Colin’s car and got out. She had changed at the airport as usual, currently wearing flats, jeans, and a cable-knit sweater. Her hair was in a short ponytail. She caught a glimpse of herself in the car window, a distorted and stretched version that was so far removed from the woman she’d been in Vegas that she had a jarring moment of dissociation. 

She’d been joking when she suggested replacing Myles as Echo’s handler, but she’d thought more about it during the flight. It wasn’t entirely out of the question. She could take jobs from Myles, and the ones she didn’t want she could farm out to Echo. They would be associates, partners. If Joss didn’t feel like flying to New York, or if she was unable to get away, Joss would simply pass the job on. She’d discounted that idea somewhere over Wyoming. Echo had all the markings to be the best employee on the organization’s roster. She couldn’t force her to subsist on castoffs and leftovers.

The house was quiet when she finally got up the nerve to go inside. “Hello?”

“In here.”

She found Colin in his nook - where else? - and he stood up to greet her. He put his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet. She put down her bags and looked toward the stairs.

“Where is everyone?”

“Maddie is training for soccer. Training to make up for the time she lost with the cast. And Tommy’s at a play-date.”

“Oh.”

“How was your trip?”

She shrugged. “Same as usual.”

“Really. You look different.”

She was so taken aback that she had to take a moment to consider if he somehow knew what had happened. “I got a little sun. Winter in California is basically spring here. It was nice.”

“Well, maybe one of these days I’ll have to go on one of these business trips with you.”

Jocelyn had to fight not to tense at the suggestion. “I thought we talked about that years ago. It would be intensely boring for you. Sitting in the hotel room while I spent ten hour days babysitting grown-ass people, trying to get them to resolve their problems.” She reached up to let her hair down. “Besides, I thought... I don’t know, I kind of thought the days of us doing things together were over. Did you rethink the divorce?”

“I talked to a couple of lawyers. If you want us to go down that path, we can.”

Jocelyn crossed the room and put her hands on his chest. “I don’t. I had some time to think while I was gone. I know I said some awful things to you, and I apologize for that.” She moved one hand to his cheek and stroked his stubble. “I want us to work on things. Not because it’s best for the kids, but because we’ve already put so much work into this it would be a shame to throw in the towel now. This is just a hurdle we have to get past. Right?”

Colin nodded, and she let her hand drift further south.

“You said both kids were gone...? For how long?”

“Until dinner.”

She looked down and began working the buckle of his belt. “Plenty of time for us to make up for everything. Or at least get a good start on it. Right?”

“Right.” He tilted his head and she accepted his kiss, all too aware of the much better kisses she had received over the past few days. Colin wasn’t a bad kisser, and objectively he was a good lover. She understood why he’d had so many lovers during their marriage. But she fought the urge to make a distasteful noise when she felt his tongue against hers. She twisted at the waist and let him press her against the wall of his space.

When he pulled back and began undoing the buttons of her blouse, she leaned in and whispered a suggestion in his ear. He paused and leaned back to look at her, confusion and interest vying for position on his face.

“Really? I thought women weren’t really into that.”

“I want you to.”

He held her gaze as he pushed her jeans and underwear down, then turned her to face the wall. She closed her eyes as he pressed against her again, unzipping as two of his fingers pushed between the cheeks of her ass. She closed her eyes and braced herself against what was coming, certain it wouldn’t feel good and there wouldn’t even be a modicum of enjoyment on her side. She tensed when Colin’s fingers penetrated her and she flattened her hands against the wall. 

It wouldn’t be fun, and it wouldn’t be nice, but it was something she and Echo hadn’t and wouldn’t do. It was an act that Colin would enjoy without overshadowing the memory of what happened in the Sacramento hotel. He kissed her neck and Jocelyn held her breath as she waited for him to get on with it.

#

Afterward, Jocelyn put her sweater and underwear back on before sitting in Colin’s desk chair. She had to sit on her hip to appease the soreness, her knees tucked up against her chest. Colin was sitting on the floor, his shirt unbuttoned and his pants open. He’d thankfully tucked himself away so she wouldn’t have to look at it. They both looked tousled and spent, but neither looked exactly thrilled with what had just happened. Colin pushed his thick curls back from his face, scratched the top of his head, and sighed.

“So is it just the one guy, or are there a lot?”

Jocelyn stared at him. “I don’t understand the question.”

“Come on, Jocelyn. It took me way too long to figure it out, but give me a little credit, please? You find out I’m fucking around on you with Shannon and you’re totally fine with it? Not possible. Unless you’re also screwing around. These business trips that have you flying all over the country, away from home days at a time. Is that even work, or is that just an excuse to meet up with whoever you’re screwing that week?”

She had to take a mental step back to consider her options. Colin didn’t sound like he wanted a fight, just like someone resigned to a fact who wanted information. Did she dare reveal even a tiny sliver of the truth? Did he need to know anything about Echo, or the multitude of other women she’d been with over the years? She bought time by reaching up to adjust her hair, stroking it out of her face.

“There hasn’t been any other men.”

“Oh, cut the bullshit, Jocelyn. Just for once, be honest--”

“Women.” He stared at her. “When I’m unfaithful to you, when I’m away on business, I sleep with women. It’s safer. Easier, too, sometimes. There’s never been a single woman.” _Until recently, that is._ “It’s just something I do to relieve the stress.”

“I didn’t even know you were bisexual.”

 _Technically, I’m not._ She shrugged. “I didn’t really know, either. The first time, it was a woman who came on to me. After that I decided it wasn’t really cheating since it was something so different from what we have.”

Colin looked away from her. “Wow.”

“Does it turn you on?”

He laughed. “Would it be twisted to say yes?”

“A little.” She managed a smile. “But that’s okay. I’m fine with twisted.” She put her feet down on the floor and pushed her chair back and forth a little. “We should probably shower and get dressed before the kids come home.”

“Yeah. Help me up.”

She offered him her hands and pulled him up. He stood in front of her, their pose similar to how they’d stood at their weddings. Disappointingly, it also reminded her of how she and Echo had stood at the foot of the elevators in Sacramento. It was too late to break the pose without looking awkward, so she forced herself to remain where she was.

“I won’t lie to you. I spent some time this week with Shannon. We discussed the divorce and... everything. But we’re weren’t going to do anything until you and I had a chance to talk it out. I’m going to tell her it’s over between us.”

“Don’t do that,” Jocelyn said. “I know that I’m not fulfilling all your needs. I know you need someone here when I’m away. Shannon is a good choice. Don’t throw it away just because we’re going to stay together.”

“What, like an open marriage?” She shrugged and nodded. “I guess it would be a lot simpler than divorce if we just... acknowledged it. If we’re open about it.”

“Right.”

“And you’d be okay with... knowing she’s out there, in the same town as you?”

Jocelyn nodded again. “As long as it keeps this family together. That’s all I care about at the end of the day, Colin. I want to keep this family intact.”

“Me too.” He kissed her, and she relaxed her lips and suffered through the kiss until it was finished. “I’m going to go shower.”

She watched him go, then bent down to retrieve her pants. She’d told him the truth; keeping the family intact was her only endgame. Building a new cover from scratch would simply have been far too exhausting. If it meant taking a man to bed once or twice a week, then that would just the price she would have to pay. She put her pants back on and went to see what was in the house for dinner.


	24. Chapter 24

Gary Wheelock of Poulsbo, Washington, refused to sell his portion of a company to a corporate buyer. His partners finally got tired of trying to change his mind and decided on alternate means of persuasion. Permanent persuasion, as it turned out. Joss drugged his nightly glass of Scotch and, with Echo’s help, moved him into the garage. The official coroner’s report found that he’d tried to kill himself using pills and booze. When that failed he moved to the garage. He was Joss’ ninety-seventh death, but she hardly paid attention to the task at hand.

The job took three days to complete. Joss and Echo spent an extra day in a cozy bed-and-breakfast getting fully acquainted with each other. Echo liked penetration so Joss found a store in Seattle to provide her with a strap-on. She also liked a certain degree of roughness, so they spent some time figuring out their limits. Joss choked Echo while deep inside of her, spanked her, and twisted her nipples as she was coming.

Joss was surprised at Echo’s proclivity for dirty talk. Not just in bed, although there was a thrill to hearing such depraved things being whispered as Echo had three fingers deep inside of her. Echo would find the perfect moment of silence and drop a simple statement of filth. “The next time I fuck you,” she said casually as they watched Gary Wheelock take his trash to the curb, “I’m going to write my real name on your pussy with my tongue.” Joss would then be unable to take advantage of the vivid mental image until hours later, when it manifested as a particularly violent assault that left Echo’s clothes torn and Joss’ palm tingling. She had slapped Echo on the face, ass, and chest, and Echo was trembling in the fetal position on the bed with Joss curled up behind her.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

Joss sat up and traced a particularly vivid red mark on Echo’s cheek. “I thought I’d hurt you.”

Echo looped her fingers loosely around Joss’ wrist and pulled until Joss was over her mouth. She kissed the cupped palm and stroked it with her tongue. She moved up to the fingers, taking one into her mouth and sucking gently as Joss pressed tighter against her back.

“I always wondered what it would be like to get hit during sex. Not... _hit_. But I couldn’t ask anyone because I was so scared they’d go too far.” She rolled onto her back and looked at Joss. “I knew you wouldn’t go too far. I give you control because I know you’ll only go as far as I need you to. That’s why I love you, Joss.”

“I love you, too,” Joss said. It was getting easier to say each time, and she whispered it again as she kissed Echo’s lips. When they pulled away from each other five minutes had gone by and both had climaxed again. Joss rolled onto her back and put her hand on Echo’s stomach, stroking around her navel as she stared at the texture on the room’s ceiling. “Hey. The thing you said you’d do... writing your real name. Did you do it?”

“Oh. No.” She touched her jaw. “I’m too sore to try it now.”

“No, I was just wondering. I didn’t think you’re parents named you Ioiii’o’o’I’oo.”

Echo laughed. “You were keeping track?”

“I counted each insertion as an apostrophe.”

Echo snuggled against Joss’ side. “No, that’s not my name. I’m thinking about changing it in my real life. I know, I know, the whole point is to have a separate identity when I’m doing this. I won’t actually do it. But lately it just feels wrong when someone calls me... not-Echo. My whole life I’ve answered to one name and after a few months with you I feel like a completely different person. Thank you, Jocelyn.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“Did you talk to your husband?”

Joss nodded. “We’re in therapy now, believe it or not. I spend most of the time picturing the therapist naked and trying to think of what she wants me to say. I don’t want it to be too easy, but at the same time I don’t want to drag these sessions out for years. I just want to get back to coasting. We had that perfected.”

“What changed?”

“You.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She kissed Echo between the eyebrows. “Have you given any thought about how you’re going to explain your windfall?”

Echo cleared her throat and sat up. The light came in through the window and made the fine hairs on her shoulder luminescent. She pushed her hair out of her face and it stood up on top of her head to make her look like a cockerel. 

“Yeah. About that. I mean, I can’t really tell Mom and Dad it was a rich relative. And if I say I won the lottery, a prize that big would be national news. So I was trying to think of ways to explain away the fact I’m suddenly set for life and an idea occurred to me. Remember when you suggested stealing the money yourself and then giving it to me as a present? Well, I could tell them I met someone, that we were madly in love, and she wanted me to move in with her. That would explain the money, and it would be a valid excuse for why I’ll move away immediately after getting it. The money isn’t really mine, it’s my independently wealthy girlfriend’s money and she’s just... keeping me.”

“A sugar mama,” Joss said. “Your parents wouldn’t insist on meeting this new girl of yours?”

Echo said, “I’m sure they would.” She stroked Joss’ arm and raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Joss sat up when she realized the implication, sitting so that Echo’s shadow fell across her breasts. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Echo. I’ve always thought there should be a very firm line drawn between this life and our real life.”

“You just told me that I’ve affected your marriage. How blurry has the line gotten already? Besides, I want to tell my parents I met someone I love more than anything. Someone who truly understands me, who loves me back. I want them to know I’m with you.” She had moved her hand between Joss’ legs and was using two fingers on her as she spoke. Joss’ eyes drifted shut and she lifted her hips to give Echo more room. “You have your cover. I want you to be mine.” She leaned in and brushed her lips against Joss’, flicking her tongue against them as she whispered: “Please.”

Joss closed her eyes. “Let me think about it.”

“That’s not a no.”

Joss grunted. “It’s not a no. You are... far too manipulative already. I may have to slow down with your training.”

Echo rocked her body forward, urging Joss to lie down. “The more time I have to be your student, the better. Teach me, Mrs. Kurtis...”

#

Joss had no idea what Scott Bradley had done to deserve his death. He talked on the phone too much during dinner, he ignored his wife when she told him about her day, and he fell asleep on the couch while watching sports, but none of these were enough to justify paying for someone to kill him. Regardless of reasoning, Joss received a packet with his name, address, and photograph and got on the next plane to Manhattan. She met Echo at LaGuardia and they set out on their next job.

The first day was spent confirming their target’s identity. With a name as mundane as Scott Bradley she liked to take a few extra precautions before she pulled the trigger just to ensure there wasn’t another Scott Bradley, or a Bradley Scott, who was the real intended victim. She double-checked the address, used the internet to search for other variations of the name, and sent a photo to Myles that he could show to the client. It was quickly established that the bland man was indeed their intended victim, and Joss began looking for ways to end his life. 

On the second day, Echo was following him through the streets of Manhattan when they ended up in a cluster of pedestrians on a street corner. Joss watched from across the street as Echo, hoodie up and eyes seemingly locked on her iPhone, suddenly threw herself forward. She hit Bradley in the back and he was thrown forward in front of a bus. She heard Echo shout, “Oh, my God!” just before the air brakes shrieked and Bradley’s lifeless body impacted the pavement a few feet away from where he’d been hit. Joss herself was too startled to react for the first few seconds, finally making her way across the street to where Echo was covering her mouth and staring in apparently authentic horror at the dead body a few yards away. An overweight blonde woman in a red blazer was trying to comfort Echo.

“Is everything okay? What happened?”

“This poor man,” the blonde said.

“He was standing right in front of me,” Echo said. Her voice was trembling, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “I’ve never seen someone die before.”

Joss subtly removed her from the blonde’s embrace. “You’re going into shock, honey. We need to get you somewhere you can be comfortable. Do you want to lie down in the backseat of my car?”

“Yes. God, it was so bloody...”

“I know, sweetheart. It’s okay.” She guided Echo away, and minutes later they were in a cab heading back to their hotel. Echo was watching Joss, who was chewing on her thumbnail as she watched the buildings roll by.

“Are you mad at me?”

Joss looked at her, then looked at the driver. She was looking out the window again when she finally spoke. “Sloppy.”

“I saw an opportunity and I thought it would be... easier.”

Joss tapped her finger against the doorframe and shook her head. “We’ll talk about it at the hotel.”

Echo nodded and lapsed into silence for the rest of the ride. Joss paid the cabbie at their destination, led Echo upstairs, and escorted her into the room.

“Take off your pants. Hands on the foot of the bed.” Echo undid her pants and pushed them down, then bent over with her hands flat on the blanket. Joss stood behind her and unceremoniously swatted her hard across the right cheek. “It was far too conspicuous. If anyone had seen you, you’d be in a holding cell right now. If anyone had insisted you stay behind to give a witness statement, the cops would be interrogating you. If the bus hadn’t killed him, he would be in a hospital ICU and virtually unreachable, meaning we would have to give up the job. You took an irrevocable action without running it by me first, risking the entire job and therefore the payday.” She swatted her four more times, once for each reason, and Echo whimpered with each one.

“Legs apart,” Joss said, and Echo complied. Joss wet two fingers and gently stroked Echo’s sex. She parted the labia and used her thumb to seek out the clit, rolling the pad against it until Echo began to squirm and rock back against her. “You killed your third person. We’re not counting the snafu in N’awlins because that wasn’t the target. How does that make you feel?”

“Good, ma’am...”

Joss slipped her middle finger inside. “How does that make you feel, Echo?”

Echo took a breath. “Great... ma’am...”

Joss leaned in and kissed the nape of Echo’s neck. “Many, many sins can be forgiven if the mission is a success. The target is dead. You got away. Regardless of whatever else you did wrong, you accomplished your goal. I’m proud of you, Echo.”

“Thank...” Echo sobbed suddenly, and her head dropped.

“Echo? Are you okay?”

“You’re proud of me. No one’s ever been proud of me the way you are, Joss.” She reached between her legs and cupped Joss’ hand. “Make me come.”

“Is that an order, Miss Barrett?”

“A request, m-ma’am.”

Joss whispered, “Make it an order.”

“Make me come... now.”

Joss pressed against Echo and rocked her hips forward. Echo pushed back against her and threw her head back, grinding against Joss’ body as she came. Once the tremors passed, Joss pushed Echo forward onto the bed and climbed fully-dressed on top of her. Echo reached back to stroke Joss’ hip, and Joss slid her arms between Echo’s body and the mattress. Outside they could hear sirens, a multitude of emergency responders so plentiful that they couldn’t tell which - if any - were responding to the bus fatality they had caused. Echo’s breathing slowed and her body relaxed until Joss was convinced she was falling asleep.

“Are you awake, Echo?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The slur in her voice gave away the truth, and Joss kissed the shell of her ear.

“Tell your parents that your wealthy new girlfriend can’t wait to meet them.”


	25. Chapter 25

Myles said the client was reluctant to pay for Scott Bradley since his death was so difficult to confirm as a homicide. Joss sat on the foot of the bed, wearing only an unbuttoned shirt and her underwear as she negotiated. Echo had woken up for the beginning of the call but Joss stroked her leg until she fell back to sleep. She finally got Myles to convince the client they had put themselves on the line and the death was, in fact, due to their actions. She added that the client had paid for Bradley’s death and that goal was achieved. The conversation finally ended with the client agreeing to pay, and Echo woke up as Joss put down her phone.

“What happened?”

“You’re getting paid.”

Echo rolled onto her stomach and crawled forward, wrapping her arms around Joss’ waist. She pressed her cheek against Joss’ hip. “Thank you.”

Joss stroked her hair. “My pleasure, baby.” She tucked Echo’s hair behind her ear and rested her hand on the curve of her neck. “Are you sure you want me to come visit you?”

“I am. I want you to see what I’m like away from...” She gestured at the hotel room. “I’m just worried about not acting naturally when you’re there. I’d want to impress you and I’d probably make myself look like a moron.”

Joss said, “Well, I already know where you live. So how about someday I fly up there without telling you and I watch you for a little while? Just until I get an idea what your life is like before I insert myself into the mix.”

“You mean the way we stalk targets?”

“Is that a little too weird?”

Echo sat up on her elbows and stared at the wall as she considered it. “No. It’s weird, but I think it’s kind of hot. You’re watching me, but you’re letting me live.”

“I think you just get turned on by anything.”

Echo grinned and looked up at her. “I get turned on by anything to do with you.”

Joss leaned back, and Echo scooted forward. She climbed into Joss’ lap facing her, legs tucked close as Joss put her hands in the small of Echo’s back to pull her closer. 

“Do you like it when I kill?”

Echo nodded slowly. “Not so much the killing, really. I don’t feel much either way about that. But I like the power you have.” She moved her hips and Joss moved her hands to Echo’s ass. She rose to meet her and Echo pushed down. “I watch you with a gun in your hand, or while you’re watching a target trying to figure out how to kill them, and it makes my head swim.” She bent forward and brushed her lips against Joss’ lips. “You’re my goddess of death, Joss.”

Joss parted her lips and Echo’s tongue slipped inside. Joss sucked the tip of it, then pulled back and lowered herself to the mattress. Echo remained upright, legs tight around Joss’ waist, grinding against her as Joss shrugged out of her shirt.

“Then worship me.”

Echo smiled, put one hand between Joss’ breasts, and slowly began to rock her hips forward and back in a gentle rhythm. Joss put her hands on Echo’s upper thighs and ran her eyes up the girl’s body until they locked eyes. Echo smiled and, after a moment, so did Joss. She dug her fingers in and lifted her hips to meet Echo, the bed protesting underneath them as she picked up the pace. She quickly rolled her head back and curled her fingers on Joss’ chest, teeth bared as her legs tightened to squeeze Joss between them. “Oh, my God...”

“Your goddess.”

Echo opened her eyes and smiled. “My goddess.”

Joss reached up and pulled Echo down to kiss her. Echo pulled back and touched two fingers to Joss’ lips. When they caught their breath, she cupped Joss’ cheeks.

“What if Myles sends me after you?”

“What do you mean?”

Echo lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “You said Greta screwed up and he sent you to kill her for it. What if sometime in the future after you’ve sent me out solo, what if that happens with us?”

Joss thought about the possibility. “That’s how I want to go.”

“You can’t mean that.”

“I do. Myles is fair. If he puts my name on a list, then I’m sure I belong there. And if I have to die, I would want it to be at your hand.” Echo’s eyes were moist just from thinking about it, and Joss kissed her cheeks right below them. “I would want to take the chance to say goodbye.”

Echo sniffled. “I would, too. But I don’t think I could do it.”

Joss took Echo’s hands and guided them to her throat. Echo tried to pull them away but Joss’ grip was too firm. She held Echo’s gaze and said, “Let go when I pass out.”

“No...”

“You trust me. You put your faith in me. You let me hit you and choke you... this is me giving you some back.”

Echo visibly braced herself and then tightened her grip. Joss let go of her arms and rested her hands on Echo’s hips. She worked her jaw briefly, then closed her lips so Echo wouldn’t think she was gasping for air as she felt her throat tightening. Her vision went blurry at the edges and she slid her hand up Echo’s side, feeling disconnected as if touching her through cotton. She seemed to withdraw down a corridor that kept constricting tighter and tight until--

She gasped and widened her eyes, taking in a deep lungsful of air as Echo frantically stroked her cheeks. “Oh, thank God. Are you okay?” She was crying, and Joss tightened her hand on Echo’s side before she nodded. Echo kissed her and Joss breathed deeply through her nose as Echo breathed into her mouth. When they parted Joss rested her forehead against Echo’s and stroked her skin with her thumb.

“That’s the second time you’ve taken my breath away and brought me back to life,” Joss whispered. “I love you, Echo.”

Echo closed her eyes and snuggled closer to Joss, and Joss held her.

#

“How often do you say you love each other?”

Jocelyn narrowed her eyes. “I don’t understand the question.”

“It’s a fairly straightforward question,” Dr. Teague said. “It’s a feeling most people tend to take for granted in their relationships. We tend to expect the other person simply knows the feeling is there so we don’t feel the need to say it out loud. But how often do you tell Colin you love him?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a long time, I guess.”

“How do you feel about that?”

Jocelyn thought for a moment as if trying to land on a correct answer. “Fine, I guess.”

“Colin?” The doctor turned to him. She held her fist in front of her face, the thumb extended to rest underneath her chin. Her blonde hair was tied back in a loose bun, and she wore eyeglasses with colored frames. “When was the last time you told Jocelyn you loved her?”

“A few days ago when she left on one of her business trips.”

Jocelyn chuckled and looked down at her joined hands. Dr. Teague looked at her.

“Is something funny about that?”

“No, not the... just the way he says ‘business trip.’ So derisive, like they’re some bullshit story I told him. Those business trips mean I earn enough for him to work on his writing.”

“But you’ve admitted to being unfaithful on these business trips.”

“Sure.”

Dr. Teague rubbed her bottom lip against the top, working her jaw back and forth as if waiting for elaboration. Finally she tapped her stylus against the iPad she was using. 

“You have affairs with women.”

Jocelyn nodded. “I do.”

“Do you ever tell these women that you’re married?”

“It doesn’t usually come up. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on if I think they’ll get turned on by the idea of cheating.”

“Do you ever tell them you love them?”

Jocelyn shook her head. “No.”

“Colin?”

He rubbed his thigh with his hand, squeezing the knee. “Yeah. I’ve told Shannon I love her.”

“You’ve been with Ms. Molloy for a long time. Over a year, right?” Colin nodded. “Recently you and Jocelyn had a rough patch in which divorce was a very real possibility. How did she take it when you chose to pull back, to try working things out here?”

“She didn’t take it very well. We haven’t seen each other in almost a week.”

Jocelyn said, “Sorry about that.”

“There’s no need to be sarcastic.”

“I’m not.” Jocelyn shrugged. “It would be hypocritical of me to blame him for cheating on me. I hope things work out with him and Shannon.”

“Which relationship takes priority for you, Jocelyn? If he works things out with Shannon to the detriment of this marriage, would you be willing to make that sacrifice?”

Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “For fuck’s sake. If she’s that desperate for him, bring her home. We’ll have a damn threesome and everyone will be happy. Just be sure she brings the handcuffs and wears her uniform. I like a little role play.”

Dr. Teague said, “Jocelyn, you can’t expect Colin to try and make his marriage work while attempting to heal the rift with his mistress. The two goals are mutually exclusive. You need to decide how much you love Colin and if you’re willing to do what it takes to fix the problems that you’re both having. If you love him enough to stay married to him, then you need to at least put off this idea of an open marriage until the foundation is a little stronger. I’m not endorsing the idea of an open marriage, by the way, but if it’s something you feel you need...” She sighed. “You need to decide whether you want to work on the marriage or set each other free to pursue these other entanglements.”

Jocelyn said, “I can’t do that, Dr. Teague. If I leave him, he’ll be homeless by summer. He relies on my income to support himself. As far as alimony goes, I find it ludicrous. It’s like selling your car to someone else and continuing to pay for their gas. It’s easier to just let Shannon borrow the car from time to time when she feels like taking a ride, but it’s still technically parked in my garage.”

“You realize you just insinuated your husband is an object that you own.”

“Isn’t he?”

“Wow.” Colin chuckled and shook his head. 

Jocelyn pressed her lips together and looked at Dr. Teague’s high heels. _He is an object, Dr. Teague,_ she wanted to say. _And so are my children. They are the masks I wear to look normal so no one looks too hard at me. That is why I have to stay married to him. There is no other reason. And that is why we have to look outside the marriage for our satisfaction. I use him for appearances and he uses me for money. We don’t provide sex for each other so we’re forced to bring in outside help. We don’t need help fixing the marriage. We just need help accepting it for what it is: a financial arrangement._

Dr. Teague had said something while Jocelyn was speaking in her head and seemed to be expecting a response. Jocelyn dipped her head forward, looked at her hands, and then said, “I guess I’ll just have to work on that.”

“I don’t think you and Colin can make any progress in saving your marriage until you do. You have to see him as an equal partner, not a pet that you leave at home when you’re off earning a living.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“We have a few minutes left, if there’s anything you’d like to discuss or any topics you’d like to bring up.”

Colin cleared his throat and adjusted on his side of the couch. “Yeah, there’s something I’d like to talk about. And I’d prefer to do it here where Jocelyn can’t get away with her normal evasion or by storming out when she can’t come up with an answer.” He looked at her. “Where do you see us going? I mean, what’s the endgame, Jocelyn? Best case scenario is that we fix this little speed bump and then what? We grow old together? Send Madison off to college and watch Tommy grow up and do the same? Then we’ll be in our fifties and still going through this whole routine? I just want to know where you see us in twenty years when Tommy is all grown up and we don’t have this ‘for the kids’ excuse to fall back on for why we’re still together.”

Dr. Teague tilted her head to look at Jocelyn. “It’s an intriguing question. If you don’t see this being a viable partnership in twenty years then maybe we should just stop fighting right now.”

Jocelyn sat up straighter and rocked her head to the side to loosen her neck. “Twenty years from now. It’s a long time.” She tried to imagine herself spending another two decades with Colin, tried wrapping her mind around the idea they weren’t even at the halfway mark. It made her want to open a window and take a deep breath of fresh air, made her want to stand up and start walking until she reached an ocean. “I guess when you put it like that, Dr. Teague...” She reached out and took Colin’s hand. She looked at him and worked up a tremble in her voice, blinking until her eyes watered. “I want that. I want to make this work.”

Dr. Teague smiled. “I think we’ve made some excellent progress today.”

#

“That was bullshit, right?” Colin said as he drove them home. “The whole Oscar speech in there? Tears. Tears, Jocelyn! I almost bought it. But I know you too well to have been fooled.”

Jocelyn was watching out the window as the city passed by. “I have to go to Chicago this weekend.”

“Did you get another call?”

“No call. This isn’t business. I have something I need to do for a coworker.” She looked at him. “Call Shannon. Have a little romantic weekend. Have Madison watch Thomas and you can rekindle the old flame.”

“So that’s the endgame,” Colin said softly. “You and me playing house while Shannon plays second fiddle.”

“The way I see it, she’s getting a pretty sweet deal. All the fun, none of the responsibility. Just try not to knock her up. This thing is complicated enough as it is.”

Colin started to say something but it devolved into a sigh by the time it reached his lips. “Maybe we should stop seeing Dr. Teague.”

“Does seem like a waste of time, doesn’t it.”

“No, Joss,” he said, almost hissing what he thought of as a derisive nickname. “This, what we’re doing right here and right now, our lives in this town? That is the waste of time.”

Jocelyn smiled and closed her eyes. “Finally. Something we agree on.”


	26. Chapter 26

Waukegan, Illinois, was every small-town American map dot that Joss had ever visited. She drove past convenience stores and empty lots with grass growing up between the cracks in the concrete and there were churches. Hardware stores and McDonalds and big factories that produced god-knew-what, churches and neatly-demarcated neighborhoods. There were people out walking their pets and on bicycles, nine-to-fivers walking home with their uniform shirts draped over one shoulder, kids with iPods playing and churches. There were a lot of fucking churches. 

Joss elected to drive the whole route rather than waste seven or eight hours on the flight just to drive an hour to her destination anyway. The drive literally took half the day, and she realized at the midpoint that she was driving to fool herself that Echo was always just a car ride away. Even if the car ride took her from darkness to darkness, even if the sun passed entirely over the United States in the time it took her to arrive, it was still one car ride.

After the past few weeks of tedium she desperately needed that reassurance. She realized that a divorced woman taking care of two kids was as good a cover as anything, but she couldn’t just cut Colin loose. She felt responsible for him. It was, after all, her enabling that led to him being such a useless piece of shit. If not for her, he might have given up writing for a real job years ago. She couldn’t pawn off such a wreck of a man on Shannon Molloy no matter how much both of them might pretend to want it.

Joss set out early in the morning and didn’t stop for anything other than the necessities. She ate behind the wheel and used the restroom only when the need became dire. She was caught in traffic twice, nearly got her bumper clipped off by a dump truck while cutting through Wisconsin, and suffered a leg cramp that nearly forced her off the road just after she crossed the Illinois state line.

She still had her list of people in Waukegan named Barrett, but she still hadn’t tried narrowing it down. There were about ninety-thousand people who called the town home. The odds of tracking down one specific person without even a first name to go by was daunting, and Joss knew that she faced the very real possibility of being forced to go home without finding Echo, but she needed the time to clear her head and a possibly quixotic mission was just the ticket.

The sky was still pink and purple at the horizon and the good people of Waukegan were heading home from a long day of work, going out on dates, or searching for somewhere to grab dinner. Joss pulled over to consult the map on her phone and drove to the high school. The football field was tucked between the school and the neighborhood behind it. Joss parked among the sedans and minivans at the fence and watched the people circling the running track that formed the field’s boundary. They were moving at various speeds, some jogging and others simply strolling to talk with their companion. A few people arrived as the sky darkened, the floodlights over the field coming on with quiet snaps so the runners weren’t left in the dark.

After twenty minutes Joss started the car and left the field. She drove to a park on the other side of town and watched the people arrive for their walks through the meandering trails. It was harder to see details of their faces in the dark so she focused on things like height and gait. She ignored the people who seemed to be walking socially or were walking period. She left the park after half an hour and moved on to the next. There were five walking trails in the city but she didn’t have time to check them all before it got too late for anyone to be out. She briefly paused at each one, watched the people who were out or around, and then drove on. 

She checked in at the Sheridan, went to her room, and gratefully showered to get the epic car trip out of her pores. She climbed naked into bed and went quickly to sleep after setting an alarm to wake her at five so she could resume her search. Echo said she was keeping up with her training, running every morning and evening. Joss had to assume that if she was that dedicated that she would spot her rather quickly. She just had to be diligent about checking all the possible places for her to run before she resorted to checking the neighborhoods for solitary suburban runners.

Just before five-thirty she was at the first track she hadn’t bothered to stakeout the night before. She realized that the majority of people using it were geriatrics from the assisted-living center adjacent to it, so she moved on to the next one. A class of students in matching track suits circled the next track so Joss immediately moved on without slowing. Echo wouldn’t want so many people sharing her space. 

Joss was certain she would have to waste the majority of her time simply trying to find Echo. She was parked at a red light trying to decide which track to check next when she saw a woman running in the neighborhood across the intersection. She didn’t dare hope her quest was over, but at least it did prove there were people who didn’t bother with the official running trails. She waited for the green light and proceeded into the neighborhood. She didn’t slow as she passed the runner, who was taller and had longer, darker hair than Echo, but she did glance back just to make certain it wasn’t her. She weaved through the neighborhoods until an indicator on her dashboard told her she was running low on gas. She remembered seeing a low price at a station across town and pulled up to the pump. Even though she could conceivably use her credit card - there would never be a reason to deny she’d been in Waukegan on this date - she took cash and went inside to pre-pay out of habit.

The store was crowded, with two clerks behind the counter and at least one other dealing with restocking inventory behind the candy shelves, and Joss joined the line at the counter. The man in front of Joss mentioned that the coffee maker was running low on decaf, and the clerk stretched to see if his coworker was visible.

“Audrey, can you get another pot of decaf started, please?”

“Sure thing.”

Joss froze at the sound of the girl’s voice and tried to turn as casually as possible toward the source. A cupboard door closed and then the third clerk appeared. She wore an oversized tunic in red, green, and brown, the sleeves like bells around her arms. She wore baggy cargo pants that pooled around her sneakers. Her red hair was just long enough to be tied back, although it ended up as a tuft at the base of her skull rather than a full ponytail.

Audrey Barrett. Echo.

She didn’t even look toward the cash register as she stepped quickly into the back room. Joss quickly put her money on the counter and hurried out the door. The pump where she’d parked wasn’t easily visible from the store, even if Echo had chosen to look outside. Still, Joss used the pump as cover as she filled her car. The pump cut off, and Joss slipped into her car as quickly as possible. She drove half a block to an empty lot and parked facing the street, resting her hands on the wheel as she watched the convenience store.

The rush quickly ended, and soon the parking lot was empty. Joss watched as the male clerk went out for a smoke break, pacing near the ice machine and watching traffic pass. He eventually went back inside and fifteen minutes later Echo came outside. She had a broom in one hand, a pan with a long silver handle in the other, and she slowly paced the length of the parking lot. Occasionally she would stop and sweep something up, but mostly it seemed like a leisurely breath of fresh air.

When she finished she dumped the pan into the trash can between gas pumps, took out the lining, and carried the bag over to the big dumpster tucked away against the side of the building. Seeing her out of context was unsettling; to watch the girl she’d seen kill two men in cold blood in a smock, sweeping up cigarette butts and discarded candy wrappers made her even more determined to get her away from this life to the one she was supposed to be leading.

At ten in the morning Echo left the store again and started walking. She had taken off her tunic and it was draped over her shoulder, hands in her pockets as she crossed the street. Joss considered sliding down in her seat or trying to drive away inconspicuously, but she doubted Echo... Audrey... would even notice as she passed. Sure enough she barely even took her eye off the sidewalk in front of her. She passed in front of Joss’ car and continued on. 

Joss got out of the car and gave her a few minutes’ head start before she started following her on foot. She would linger on corners until Echo was almost out of sight and then she would play catch-up. Echo never looked back - a failing Joss made a mental note to correct at the earliest opportunity even as she took advantage of it - and led Joss through one neighborhood and into another. The houses were tidy and nondescript, the sort of suburban blandness Joss had sought long and hard to find when setting up her cover. The houses faced one of the parks that hadn’t been on Joss’ map, and she chided herself for clinging to a plan that she now knew would have ultimately failed.

Eventually Joss began to believe she had been spotted and Echo was just toying with her, but then Echo slowed in front of a house that was set back from the road on a gentle knoll. Three stone steps led up to a chain link fence, and Echo unhooked the gate, went inside, and crossed the lawn to go around the back of the house.

Joss waited until she was sure Echo was gone before she risked passing by. The woman she knew as Echo was in fact Audrey Barrett of 4308 Ensign Court. 

Joss didn’t stop, didn’t want to risk being spotted by a nosy neighbor, but she’d gotten what she came for. She knew where Echo lived and, quite by accident, had discovered where she worked. Now her surveillance could begin.

#

Echo reappeared a little after three in the afternoon. School buses lingered on the corner and purged a half dozen kids, then rolled on to the next destination. Echo came out of her house in a sleeveless cotton vest over a sweater and jeans. She stood on the front steps gazing at her iPod until she decided on something to listen to, then she tucked the device in her pocket and started jogging. Joss considered following her but knew that she would only risk being spotted. She was currently in the park across from Echo’s house, seated in a covered pavilion with a book bag (one of Thomas’ old ones) in case anyone asked why she was there. She was obviously a soccer mom waiting for her kid. 

Ten minutes after Echo left, a white sedan pulled up in front of the house. A woman Joss instantly identified as Echo’s mother got out and checked her phone. She wore a gray pantsuit over a blue shirt, her blonde hair tucked up in a complicated style. She walked around the front of the car and went up the steps to her home. Almost immediately after the door closed a second car arrived and parked behind Echo’s mom. Her father had white hair and a tidy black beard, a poor-man’s James Brolin.

An hour after leaving, Echo returned from the opposite direction. She visibly sagged when she saw her parents were home and stopped in front of the gate. She checked her pedometer, cooled off and caught her breath, and then went up the front walk. She went in through the front door this time, and Joss saw a light come on in the front room. Joss figured the family was home for the night, and her ruse of waiting for a student was long past unbelievable, so she picked up the book bag and slung it over her shoulder for the long walk back to where she had parked.

She went back to her hotel, showered, and used the phone book to find the appropriate listing of Barrett. The only ones on Ensign Court were Eleanor and Patrick, and there was a separate line for A. Barrett with the address of 4308B. Joss programmed the number into her phone and then stretched out on top of the blankets. Her initial plan had been to observe Echo for at least two days before she revealed herself, but now that she’d actually found her she realized how hard it would be to hang back and not announce her presence.

Joss fell asleep debating whether she should stick to her plan or not. When she woke she showered, put on fresh clothes, and drove to the gas station where she’d stumbled over Echo through luck, fate, or dumb happenstance. She parked down the street again and watched as the morning rush filled and emptied the parking lot with a nearly hypnotic flow. Cars cut paths along the tiny parking lot, sliding along the pumps or easing into slots, backing up and arcing out to avoid another vehicle, like a slow-motion and very careful demolition derby.

As she watched Joss noticed there were no cars that were always there, meaning no one working had a car parked in the lot. Ipso facto, Echo was likely to be working. When the rush ended and the store started to see moments of silence, Joss got out and stretched her legs by leaning against the side of her car. She watched two trucks as they got gas, squinting against the front windows to see if she could identify who was behind the counter. The glare was too strong and she quickly gave up.

Finally, when the parking lot was empty, Joss started walking. She scanned the building as she approached, also watching the street to make sure no one else was coming in before she opened the door. A bell jangled over her head but there was no clerk at the register.

“Good morning!” Echo called from the back of the store. “I’ll be right with you.”

Joss followed the sound of her voice. Echo was crouched in front of the fountain drinks, digging a sleeve of wax-paper cups from the cabinet. She was again wearing the smock and the baggy pants, but today her hair was down. Joss approached from her blindside and stood a few feet from her before she spoke.

“This is a stick-up.”

Echo twisted around, eyes wide, and then shot to her feet. “Joss...?”

“Hi, Audrey.”

“ _Joss_.” She dropped the cups so that they spilled across the floor, and she crushed one under her sneaker as she jumped forward into Joss’ arms. They embraced tightly before Echo pulled back and kissed her, moaning into her mouth with a sort of desperate whimper, bringing her hands up to stroke Joss’ cheeks. When she pulled back her cheeks were wet and her eyes were wide and wild. She stroked Joss’ face and smiled, chuckling quietly.

“You’re real.”

Joss tilted her head slightly. “What?”

“You’re _real_. Ever since that day in Jersey, that first sudden...” She inhaled and hiccupped, shaking her head in irritation until she got her voice back. “I thought maybe I was going insane. Having these vivid hallucinations. And then they’d end, and I’d come back here, and I would go back to my routine. Sometimes I wouldn’t be able to sleep because maybe I’d just made you up. But you’re real. You’re here. My goddess of death.”

“I’m here. I’m as real as people get.” Joss smiled and kissed her again.


	27. Chapter 27

Echo had three hours left on her shift, but she offered to let Joss hang out to keep her company during the slow bits. Joss agreed and hung around near the cigarette section of the checkout counter where she wouldn’t be in the way. Echo went into the bathroom and cleaned the tears off her face, reapplying her makeup before she came out to her post at the register. Joss had used the time to clean up the cups she had caused to be spilled. More customers came in and she seemed to quickly resume her routine, ringing people up and activating the gas pumps. During a slow bit just before lunch she went to clean up a spill by the coffee machine.

“How did you find me?”

“Entirely by accident. I was getting gas yesterday and I heard your voice. I was trying to track you down by staking out the jogging paths in town. The one behind the high school, a couple on the other side of town...”

Echo smiled. “I never use those. I have a route in the neighborhood.”

“I know. I saw you yesterday.”

“You watched me?”

“A little.”

Echo thought on that for a moment and then chuckled. “I kind of like knowing that you were out there. Watching over me.”

Her replacement arrived ten minutes early. He saw Joss lingering behind the counter. “Oh. Hi. I’m Chuck.”

“Chuck, this is Joss. She’s my girlfriend.”

“Oh! She’s talked about you but we were beginning to think you were, you know, the mythical girlfriend who goes to another school. Not that I ever did that.”

Echo said, “Nah, all your girlfriends lived in Canada.”

“One of them did! Then the internet came along and that lie got so tough to carry on.” He looked at his watch. “If you want to bug out a little early, I can cover for you.”

“Really?” She was already reaching for the zip on her tunic.

“Yeah, go ahead. You’ll owe me.”

She unzipped the top and squeezed his arm. “I really will. Thanks, Chuck.” She raised her eyebrows at Joss and shrugged out of her uniform. 

“It was nice to meet you, Joss.”

“You, too.”

She took Echo’s hand when they walked outside, and she nodded to where she had parked. “What the hell? Did I walk right in front of you yesterday?”

“You did. Then I followed you the rest of the way on foot.”

Echo shivered. “That’s kind of spooky.”

“It’s also kind of lazy. You should have known better, Echo.”

She ducked her head. “Will I be punished?”

“Later.” 

“Good.”

Joss chuckled and put her arm around Echo’s waist. She hesitated and then pulled back. “I assume you’re out based on Chuck’s lack of reaction, but maybe I shouldn’t--”

“Hold me, Joss.” She did as she was told, and Echo put her head on Joss’ shoulder. “How have things been going in Pierre?”

“My marriage is safe.”

“My condolences.”

Joss smiled sadly. She unlocked the car and they parted so Echo could get in on the passenger side. Once the engine was on they sat for a moment so the heater could take the edge off the chill.

“So now you know my real name, at long last.”

“It’s a very pretty name.”

“I still want to be your Echo.”

Joss covered Echo’s hand with hers. “Have you spoken to your parents about me?”

Echo nodded. “I told them I’d been seeing someone on my trips, and I told them we were getting serious. They’re expecting you to come for a visit when you can get away from work. Are you up for meeting them this evening?”

“It’s not about me. If you’re ready for that...”

“I am.” She looked out the windshield. “These past few weeks have felt like saying goodbye. I’m going through the motions and I’ve been happier because I know it’s not forever. I know there’s an end date. I didn’t think it would be today, but if it is I’m so happy to walk away now. But that doesn’t mean we’re ending, right? Myles will just call me somewhere else and we’ll still be working together.”

Joss turned Echo’s hand over and linked their fingers. “For now. You’re not ready to go solo yet, but you’ll be there so soon. We need to prepare for that.”

“To never see each other again?” 

Joss swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. “That’s how this goes, Echo. There aren’t duos in the industry.”

“Even if we work really well together? I mean, we do. Right?”

Joss chuckled. “Echo, I lost my thrill for this job a long time ago. It started getting monotonous. Then you came along. I’m not looking forward to going solo, either. But you deserve to stand on your own two feet. You deserve to earn your own reputation.”

Echo lifted their hands and kissed Joss’ hand. “Let’s go meet Mom and Dad.”

#

Echo’s home was smaller than it appeared from the outside. The living room was narrow and tall, with the kitchen running along the north wall. Echo showed her the upstairs - a narrow hallway with rooms branching off like prison cells - during the grand tour, but their real destination was outside. The backyard took up most of the property, and a small one-room guest house occupied the northwest corner. Echo led her to it and held one arm into the open door like a game show model. “Tada. This is where I come back to after a long day of selling gasoline, caffeine, or killing someone.”

Joss stepped inside. The bed was under the window and the kitchen was on the other side of the space. “It’s cozy. It’s very nice. Do you watch TV with your parents?”

“No way. Laptop or phone.”

“The times they are a-changing,” Joss said. She sat on the bed and Echo stepped in front of her, resting her hands on Joss’ shoulders for leverage as she settled on her lap. Joss smiled up at her. “You have a lovely home, Audrey Barrett.”

“Thank you, Jocelyn.” She bowed and kissed Joss’ lips. “Mm. All the times I’ve thought about having you in my bed, and now here you are.” She straightened her back and bit her bottom lip. “The things I’ve imagined doing with you here.”

Joss whispered, “I don’t think we have time before your parents get home.”

“Unfortunately not.” She stroked Joss’ hair. “It’s enough just to have you here for now. How long can you stay?”

“Three days or so. I didn’t really give an estimated time of return, but I probably shouldn’t stretch it out too much.”

Echo accepted that with a sigh. “I guess I can find a way to fill the time.”

Joss held Echo’s gaze as she moved her hands to the waistband of Echo’s pants, sliding inside and teasing the soft skin at the top of her ass. Echo smiled at her and Joss craned her head to the side to kiss and nibble Echo’s neck. Echo began to move against her, moaning quietly, but then her hands flew to Joss’ shoulders and pushed her back. “Shit. Dad’s home.”

“What are we, teenagers?”

“Shush.” Echo climbed off Joss’ lap. “I don’t want you to meet him when your hand is down my pants.”

“Fair enough.” Joss straightened her clothes while Echo quickly stripped down to her underwear. She went to the dresser and changed into a black skirt and a red blouse as Joss watched. “You always dress this fancy.”

“I’m taking us all out to dinner so we can properly get to know one another. I mean, not properly. But the cover story. Um. You and I met in the waiting room of a psychiatrist I’ve been seeing up in Green Bay. That’s where I claim to go when we’re off on jobs, by the way. I tell them driving along the lake for three hours is part of the therapy. Clearing my head, trying to get over it. Anyway, uh, we met in the waiting room and you offered to buy me dinner after a particularly emotional session. We’ve been bonding, getting closer.”

“Have we had sex yet?”

“My parents won’t ask that.”

“No, but it might affect how we act.”

Echo paused. “Good point. Um. Yes. We’ve slept together a few times.”

Joss nodded as Mr. Barrett knocked on the door. “Audrey?”

“Just a second, Daddy.” She checked her face in the mirror, touched her hair, and then went to open the door. “Hey. I have kind of a surprise for you.”

“Oh?”

She opened the door wider and gestured at the bed. “Daddy... I’d like you to meet Jocelyn Kurtis. She’s the woman I’ve been staying with when I go up to Green Bay for those sessions.”

Joss stood up. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, sir.”

Something passed over Patrick Barrett’s face, a reaction she couldn’t quite place before he stifled it. He held out his left hand. “Jocelyn. We’ve heard a lot about you.”

She shook his hand. “Call me Joss.”

“Okay. You can call me Pat.” He looked at Echo. “Audrey. You look lovely.”

“I was thinking I could treat you and Mom to dinner tonight. Give you a chance to meet Joss.”

Pat’s smile broadened. “That would be wonderful. Your mother should be home shortly, and I think she’d jump at the chance to be treated.” He turned his focus back to Joss. “So what do you do for a living, Joss?”

“I’m a mediator. I go around the country and help businesses deal with their internal issues. Sort of like a third-party human resources representative.”

“Sounds interesting,” he said, although it was an obvious lie. Joss preferred disinterest; the less people cared, the less she had to fabricate. Pat put a hand on Echo’s arm and smiled. “I’ll leave you and your friend alone. Your mother texted me from the office and she should be home in about half an hour.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.”

He nodded. “It was nice meeting you, Joss.”

“You too.” When he was gone, Joss looked at Echo. “Is he really okay?”

“Why wouldn’t he be?”

Joss shrugged. “There was something in his face when he saw me.”

“My parents have known I was gay since high school, but they’ve never really met any of my girlfriends. Or... oh.”

“Oh?”

Echo smiled. “He might have been surprised by how old you are.”

Joss raised an eyebrow. “I’m old?”

“Compared to me, yeah.”

She supposed that had some merit. “Do you think it’ll be an issue?”

“No. They won’t care as long as you make me happy. And as a bonus, your advanced age means that it’s more believable you can support me.”

“My... _advanced_ age?”

Echo chuckled. “Yeah. It’s okay. I like my ladies mature.” She embraced Joss and kissed her. “I can’t believe I found you. You’re perfect for me.”

“I’m glad.”

“I...” She bit her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes. “I’ve been thinking about your husband and kids. You’re using them as a cover, to look normal. What if we found a place to stay together and we didn’t have to worry about a cover? You’d have your savings, I’d have mine, and we’d be together in between jobs. One day Myles sends you to Alaska, the next day I go to San Francisco, and then we come back and compare notes?”

Joss stared at a point on the wall as she considered the plan. It would work on paper, she supposed. It would remove all the hoops she was being forced to jump through in Pierre if she just dropped it all and ran away. She pictured herself and Echo in some forest, some small cabin out in the middle of nowhere, training and making love in between hunts. It would be the perfect second act for her life, a way to get free of the chains she’d tightened around herself.

“We don’t have to lead two separate secret lives to cover our tracks. We can have one life. You and me.” She pecked Joss’ cheek and then her lips. “Say yes. Say yes, please.”

“Yes.” Joss and Echo looked at each other as if both were surprised by her answer. Joss wet her lips with her tongue and nodded. “Yeah. It might take me a while to make a clean break in Pierre.”

Echo said, “Your kids. Joss, I can’t really ask you to turn your back on your children. I was just being childish and selfish.”

Joss put her hand over Echo’s mouth. “Not right away. But the end game will be me and you together, wherever we end up.”

Echo kissed Joss’ palm, and Joss embraced her. It would be easy to cut Colin loose. She was surprised at how much she would miss Madison, but the girl would be better off with a proper mother in her life. As would Thomas. Her departure would be the best thing to ever happen to the Webb family.

More importantly, it would be the best thing that happened to her.

#

Eleanor Barrett surprised Joss by embracing her immediately upon being introduced. The standoffish businesswoman she’d expected was entirely replaced by a chattering, smiling, over-friendly interrogator who asked a barrage of questions about how she’d met their daughter. The questioning had continued despite pleas for mercy from both Pat and Echo, but each reprieve was short-lived. Joss did her best to maintain the details Echo had provided but she found herself forced to improvise as Eleanor pushed deeper and deeper. After another stretch of silence during which they arrived at the restaurant and made their orders, Eleanor smiled and Joss sensed another question.

“So. Where did you take her for your first date?”

Joss said, “It wasn’t anything special. We got fast food and sat in a parking lot for... felt like hours. Just talking to each other, getting comfortable with each other. I’m not exactly the trustworthy type. In my line of work you get cynical pretty quickly. But, eh... Audrey. I don’t know why I let her in. I didn’t want to. Wasn’t looking to. I just wanted to offer her a little wisdom, maybe help her avoid some of the pitfalls I made. It wasn’t until later... well, our next date, I guess. I had a momentary crisis of faith. I was on the verge of doing something I would have regretted. Audrey saved me from making a mistake. Just stepped in and saved the day. I knew right then that if I ever needed someone to catch me when I fell, she’d be there for me.”

“Aw.” Eleanor smiled at Echo, who was looking down at her plate. “That’s beautiful, sweetie.”

“I don’t know if I did anything that epic,” she said softly, then looked up and met Joss’ eye. Joss nodded, and Echo smiled. “I’m glad I helped.”

“And the age difference doesn’t bother you? What is the difference, anyway?”

Pat coughed. “Ellie, please.”

“I’m sorry. But it is a noticeable gap.”

Joss said, “It’s about twenty years. And no. I’ve never really believed in that sort of thing. I love Audrey very much.”

“I love you, too.”

Eleanor pressed her lips together to rein in her smile. “I’m so thrilled that something so wonderful can come from the unpleasantness of last year. I think I know the exact moment you came into our Audrey’s life, Miss Kurtis. Looking back there was a distinct... it was a...” She gestured with her hands as she searched for the word.

“A sigh,” Pat said after taking a sip of his water. “She’d been holding her breath since what happened, and she finally let it go when you showed up.”

“Exactly. That was exactly what it was. We might have been more skeptical if she’d just shown up saying she’d fallen in love with someone. Instead we saw it, and that’s why we know that you’re someone we can trust.”

Joss said, “I’ll do my best to earn that trust, Mrs. Barrett.”

“Actually,” Echo said, “on that note. Joss and I have something we’d... we’d kind of like to talk with you about. I’ve been doing really well on my therapy up in Green Bay. I finally feel like I can get past what happened and move on with my life. And I think a big part of that would be moving out.”

Pat said, “Peanut. You know you’re welcome to stay with us as long as you need.”

“I know, Daddy. I appreciate that so much, and you’ve been a lifesaver. But I think the time has come. And the change of scenery has been doing me so much good.”

Eleanor looked at Joss. “I don’t think it’s just the scenery.”

“I’m glad you said that, Mama. I talked about this with Joss. She wants to put me up in an apartment in Green Bay.”

The parents stiffened slightly, and then looked at each other. Pat finally said, “That’s a little extravagant, don’t you think?”

“I’m only doing it because we think it’s a little too early to move in with each other. The apartment is just so she won’t feel the need to stay with me if our relationship sours. And if it’s a matter of money, I can assure you this is well within my means.”

Pat rubbed his thumb and forefinger against his mustache. “Well. It’s something we’d have to discuss. It’s a big step.”

“It is,” Echo said. She reached over and took Joss’ hand. “But to be honest, Mom... Dad. It’s not your decision to make. I love Joss. And we’re taking it slow because I want to do it right. But the moment I met Joss I knew that she was meant for me. She’s the person I was meant to be with, and everything bad and awful I’ve gone through in my life was meant to get me to her. Being with her is worth everything.”

Joss said, “And I hope that maybe one day she’ll learn to love me as much as I love her.”

Eleanor chuckled at that and Pat seemed to relax as well. 

“Well.” Pat looked at his wife and gave a shrug of surrender. “When you put it like that, we would be foolish to stand in the way. Audrey, we’ll give you our blessing for this if you know you’ll always have a place to come back to.”

Echo blinked away her tears. “I know, Daddy.”

“And you,” Eleanor said, pointing at Joss. “Keep our little girl happy.”

Joss squeezed Echo’s hand. “I’ll do my best, Mrs. Barrett. Every day.” Echo smiled at her and brushed her thumb across Joss’ knuckles.


	28. Chapter 28

Outside the restaurant, a cold breeze had settled over the town, blowing off Lake Michigan. Joss was outside first, with Echo settling the bill and her parents got ready to go in the slowed-down, leisurely way of parents everywhere. Joss was grateful for the fresh air and the chill, grateful for its reassurance that she was still in her own body. Seventeen years. She’d spent seventeen years faking domestic bliss with a man she could barely tolerate because the real thing seemed unattainable. But a few weeks with Echo, spread over most of a year, and she was ready to completely reset her life. 

The restaurant door squeaked as it was opened, and Echo led her parents out. “Hey. Wondered where you got off to.”

“Just needed a breather.” She slipped an arm around Echo’s shoulder. “The hotel where I’m staying isn’t far from here, but it’s in the other direction. I don’t mind walking since it’s out of your way.”

“Hotel? You should stay with me.”

Eleanor said, “Audrey, that hardly seems appropriate.”

Pat cleared his throat. “Honey. Where do you think Audrey was staying all those nights up in Green Bay? And they’re discussing cohabitation. She’s an adult.”

Joss tugged her collar closed, feeling unbelievably awkward. She’d never withered under the gaze of a woman’s mother before, but she felt like a teenager who had been caught necking in the backseat. _I’m a mother, for God’s sake. I’m not going to be ashamed of having sex._ Eleanor sighed and lifted her shoulders before letting them fall in surrender.

“I suppose you have a point. Joss, you are welcome to stay with Audrey tonight.”

“Okay. Uh. I have to stop by the hotel to pick up a change of clothes.”

“Get everything and check out.” Echo slipped an arm around Joss’. “As long as you’re here, you’re my guest.”

Joss smiled at her. “Okay.”

They walked back to their car and drove to the hotel, where they waited for Joss to retrieve her things and check out. Pat helped her put the bags in the trunk and then the family returned to the house on Ensign Court. Pat and Eleanor had left two lamps lit in the front windows, and they made the house glow like a becalmed ship. Joss let the Barretts go in first and looked up at the house, the tall dark trees lining the property, and then finally went up the steps and went through the gate. “Mr. Barrett, Mrs. Barrett. I wanted to thank you for being so understanding. I appreciate your trust, and I’ll do my best to be worthy of it. I won’t do anything to hurt your daughter.”

“We appreciate that, Joss. And we trust you.”

Joss didn’t know if she was touched or ashamed of that, so she just nodded. Echo was waiting just off the walk, waiting to escort Joss back to her corner of the property. 

“Goodnight, Audrey.”

“Night, Mom. Daddy.”

Joss wished them both a goodnight as well, then took Echo’s hand. They walked through the dark side yard together, and Joss waited with her bag heavy on one shoulder as Echo unlocked the door. She turned on the light and held her hands out.

“Here we are again. Home sweet home.”

“Exactly,” Joss muttered.

Echo looked at her. “Something wrong?”

“Yeah. Echo... Audrey.” She put down her bag and shut the door. “When I came up with the plan, when I gave you the money to get away, I was projecting my life onto yours. I assumed that since I was so miserable as Jocelyn that you must have been miserable as whoever you were. I didn’t know you had a real life. I didn’t know you had people who cared about you. If you want to change your mind... if you want to stay...”

Echo put a finger on Joss’ lips. “I need to leave. This has been a nice place to rest, but if I’m going to be the person I’m supposed to be... I need to grow up and leave the nest.”

“As long as you’re not doing it because I said you needed to.”

“Well. Someone thinks pretty highly of herself.”

Joss bit Echo’s fingertip and Echo yelped in faux-pain. She dropped her hand as Joss stepped forward and kissed her. Echo put her arms around Joss’ neck and swayed, moving Joss toward the bed. Joss sat down on the edge and Echo settled on her lap, mimicking their position from earlier in the day. This time they didn’t have to stop, so Joss put her hands under Echo’s waistband and slid her hands slower. Echo arched her back and slid forward, tongue circling Joss’ before she pulled back and unbuttoned her shirt.

“Be sweet to me,” Echo whispered. “Just for tonight. No spanking or slapping or choking...”

“I can do that.” Joss kissed Echo’s chest, just above the scooped neck of her undershirt. “You be Audrey. I’ll be Jocelyn.”

Echo murmured, “Okay,” and cradled Joss’ head to her chest, slowly rolling her hips forward and back. Joss leaned back and pulled Echo with her. They stretched out on her bed, and Echo abandoned her straddling position to sit on her knees next to her. Joss watched as Echo took off her shirts and bra, then lay on top of Joss so they could kiss as she slid her pants off. Joss reached for the buttons of her own blouse, but Echo stopped her.

“I want you to be dressed this time. I want to be naked with you.”

Joss moved her hand to the swell of Echo’s breast and squeezed. As they kissed she moved her hand down to circle a nipple, pulling back to gently bite Echo’s bottom lip.

“Too rough?”

“No. It’s nice.” She nipped at Joss’ lips.

Joss said, “Those fantasies you mentioned having about me in your bed. Is this one of them?”

Echo nodded, then cried out softly as Joss pinched her nipple.

“I want to make all of them come true.”

“We only have three days.”

“Then we’ll have to use our time wisely.” She moved her hand down between Echo’s legs, and Echo collapsed against her as Joss went to work with three fingers.

#

Joss eventually did get undressed, and Echo succeeded in crossing three items off her fantasy list. They took a break that they both admitted would soon turn into sleep, but for the moment both were wide awake under the blankets. Echo had gotten up and walked across her apartment in the nude, moonlight making her look like a marble statue as she retrieved and moistened a towel before she came back. She knelt on the mattress and wiped the sweat from Joss’ body, cleaning the moisture from her thighs, and then allowed Joss to do the same for her.

Now mostly clean and still a tingling from their christening of Echo’s bed, Joss drew circles on the girl’s back with two fingers. Echo’s head fit perfectly on Joss’ shoulder, and occasionally she turned her head to kiss or lick her neck.

“What did you dream about when you were a little girl?”

“I wanted to be a top-notch female assassin.” Echo laughed, and Joss smiled, turning to kiss Echo’s forehead. “I wanted to be a teacher.”

“Oh,” Echo said softly. “Well. Mission accomplished. You’ve taught me well, Professor Kurtis.”

“You were an excellent student, Miss Barrett.”

Echo looked up and worried her lip with her teeth. “If I’m so good, why do you always keep me after class?”

Joss lightly slapped her cheek. “I don’t have the energy for regular sex, let alone role play. Tomorrow night.”

“It’s a date.” Echo put her head back down. “Next time... will you call me Audrey?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“I want to be your Echo. But I also want what we have to be part of Audrey Barrett, too. That’s why I imagined having you in my bed and introducing you to my parents. I want to have you in both my lives before I completely cut ties with this one.”

“About that,” Joss said. “Don’t cut every tie. Keep in touch with your parents. Even if it’s just holidays or random phone calls. Don’t cut yourself off like I did. I spent my whole life cutting people off. I was never happier than I am now. Now that I’ve finally let someone else in.”

Echo drew an X over Joss’ right nipple. “If I keep in touch, they’ll ask me about you.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to be available.”

“Guess so.” She pushed herself up and looked at Joss. “Myles sent you to kill me”

Joss was so startled by the switch in topic that she almost thought she misheard. “What?”

“In New Orleans. I put it together when I was on the cruise ship, but I knew it was true when you told me about Greta. I screwed up. I screwed up so badly that an innocent person died. Then you showed up and I thought, ‘my savior is here.’ You kept me safe, you got me out, and you recovered the mission. But that wasn’t what you were supposed to do. I was new. I’d failed spectacularly. There’s no way Myles sent you down there to get me safe when it would have been so much easier to just find me and put a bullet in my head.”

Joss looked toward the window but Echo forced her to look back.

“I was your target.”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t kill me.”

Joss started to say something, stopped herself, and then said, “Audrey. How could I have?”

Echo kissed her and settled against her again. Joss buried her hand in Echo’s hair and closed her eyes, even though she knew that sleep would be impossible even as exhausted as she was.

#

Echo had to be up early the next morning for her shift, and Joss had to wake her again a few minutes after the alarm buzzed. They showered together and Echo put on her uniform, hair tucked back and held behind her ears with bobby pins. Joss watched her get ready and smiled, and Echo raised an eyebrow as she tied her sneakers.

“What?”

“Nothing. It just doesn’t fit, you being a gas jockey. Not when I know what you’re capable of.”

Echo smiled. “You don’t even remember when I used to just be Audrey, do you? I was a shaky blonde girl who bit down on my hand when you shot your gun. I nearly broke the skin. I was terrified of you. I came back here and I found a gun range where I didn’t have to be a member of a club or sign in just to shoot. I got comfortable with guns and I improved my aim because I wanted to impress you. The first time I came back here I felt like a completely different person. I felt right. My parents are amazing people, but I know that I grew up with the wrong family and I had the wrong life. You put me in the right box. You are my right family.”

Joss chuckled. “Wrong family. I know how that feels.”

Echo knelt in front of Joss. “You thought that because of what you do, you had to sacrifice happiness. You don’t, Joss. You’re not incapable of happiness. You’re happy with me, right?”

Joss nodded. “Very much so.”

Echo pecked her lips. “Good. Now, you have free reign of the place until I get home. Food in the fridge, um. You can watch stuff on my laptop, just stay out of the porn. At least until I’m here to watch it with you.” She winked. “Mom and Dad should be home around the time I am. If you need anything from the house, the keys are on the bookshelf.”

“Okay.”

“See you later.” She kissed Joss goodbye, then waved as she went out the door.

Alone in the house - or apartment, Joss couldn’t quite figure out what to call the little guesthouse - she went into the kitchen and made herself breakfast. As Jocelyn, she would have been up at this time preparing eggs and bacon for the kids. Or more likely, making sure the kids were up and then stopping by McDonald’s to get Thomas a McMuffin before dropping him off at elementary school. She found some tea and made herself a cup. 

She carried the cup over to the window and looked outside at the Barrett family backyard. Maybe she’d screwed up twenty years ago by imagining the two sides of her life had to remain mutually exclusive. Maybe she should have sought out a true partner, someone who could have willingly backed up her cover rather than just being a patsy. She sipped her tea and thought about how unfair she’d been to Colin by imprisoning him, how unfair she’d been to her children by depriving them of a true mother.

When her teacup was empty Joss went to the laptop and opened it, found the video feature, and turned it on. Her face appeared on the screen and she adjusted it until she didn’t appear to be looming or the lens wasn’t focused on her chest. She smiled at her reflection and rubbed her hands together as she thought about what she was going to say. Finally she took a deep breath, hit record, and managed a smile.

“Hi, Echo...”

#

After Echo got home from work, they spent the rest of Joss’ second day in bed. They slept when necessary and resumed their activities when they woke, which meant Echo almost overslept and missed her afternoon shift on day three. Joss showered and spent the day tidying up Echo’s home. She ordered takeout and had it ready to be served up when Echo got home from work. The poor thing looked exhausted, but she brightened considerably when she saw what Joss had prepared for her. She hung her uniform tunic on the hook behind the door and examined the newly-clean living room before she went into the kitchen.

Echo hugged Joss from behind as she spooned out the rice and broccoli. “This is nice. My very own domestic goddess.”

“I thought I was your goddess of death.”

“That’s when you’re at work. Right now you’re my sweet little housewife.”

Joss pressed back against her. “Welcome home, darling. How was your day?”

“Better now.” She kissed the back of Joss’ neck and then pulled away. They took their meal into the living room and sat on the couch to eat. Echo told her stories about the people who had come in during her shift, and Joss found herself riveted by a conversation that would have bored her silly coming from anyone in Pierre. They had fallen into a very nice, companionable silence when Joss’ cell phone destroyed the peace by ringing. She checked the screen and leaned forward from her recumbent position, dropping her feet from the coffee table to the floor. “Shit.”

Echo looked up from her bowl of noodles. “Your husband?”

“Worse.” She considered not answering, but knew that wouldn’t solve anything. She braced herself and accepted the call. “It’s me.”

Myles said, “Hello, Joss. Hope you’re ready to take a little trip to a bayside city. Ever been to San Fran?”

“Yeah.”

“We have a job there. I’ll have the ticket waiting for you as usual. It’ll--”

“Uh. Actually, Myles.” Echo tensed as well, putting her bowl down and turning more toward Joss. “I’m not in Pierre right now. I’m in... I’m in Waukegan.”

The pause on the other end of the phone was filled with ambient noises, so she knew he hadn’t hung up. When he finally spoke again his voice was rougher and darker than she could ever remember it being. “And what the fuck are you doing there, Jocelyn?”

“I think you can guess.”

“Is she there now?”

“Yeah.”

She heard sounds that indicated he was walking. “This isn’t like you, Joss. This is sloppy.”

“This is what it is, Myles. Hell, you should be grateful. I just saved you a phone call. Echo and I will fly out to San Francisco tomorrow and do the job. Just like always, except you won’t have to arrange for us to fly in from two different places. If I were you, I would get used to it. In the very near future this is how things will be until Echo is ready to go it alone.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“We can be each other’s covers. It’ll be a lot safer that way.”

Myles sighed. “Jesus. Fine time for a midlife crisis, Jocelyn. All right. I’ll meet you both in San Francisco. I’ll let you know then how I feel about all of this.”

He hung up without saying goodbye, and Joss put the phone down on the table. She looked at Echo and rubbed her hands together. 

“Looks like we’ll have to cut our vacation a little short. We’re going back to California.”


	29. Chapter 29

“Ninety-nine.”

Joss thought for a moment and then confirmed it with a nod. Echo was standing in the bathroom doorway, dressed in a black leather overcoat with the collar turned up. Joss wore a black turtleneck with a surgical mask over the bottom of her face and goggles she’d found in the garage protecting her eyes. Steven Colt was lying in the bathtub, his naked body doused with bleach as she’d been instructed. She splashed some onto his face and hands as well, unsure if it would help but certain it couldn’t hurt. She stepped out of the fumes and pulled down her mask as she leaned against the sink.

“The next person you kill is going to take you to triple digits. Got any big plans?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell Myles that my next target should be a head of state. Maybe the President or the Pope.” She grinned and shrugged. “It’s just going to be another murder, Echo. Just a number.”

“But it’s a milestone.”

Joss shrugged and looked at the bathtub. “Why should number one hundred be any different from the rest? He or she won’t be any different than the ones who came before.”

Echo sighed. “Well, maybe I’ll make it special. Maybe it’ll be somewhere nice where I can take you out and paint the town red.”

Joss smiled. “I would like that.”

After a few minutes Joss decided it had been long enough. She leaned over the edge of the sink and turned on the shower, letting it dowse the corpse until most of the bleach had been sluiced away. Echo took off her jacket to help haul him up, carrying his feet as Joss hooked her hands under his arms to carry him back into the bedroom. They placed him on the bed, where Echo stretched out his legs and folded his arms over his chest. Joss took a tube of lipstick off the vanity and leaned over the mattress to draw on his chest.

“I AM NOW CLEAN.”

Echo watched the words being spelled out. “Do you think...”

“I try not to think,” Joss said. “Especially about jobs like this. We’re being paid to do a job. It stands to reason that we won’t agree with all our clients.”

“I guess.” She scratched her cheek and looked around the bedroom. “Anything else in the instructions?”

“Just the bleach bath and the posing.” She looked at Echo who was still staring at Colt. “Hey, Audrey. Did you notice he didn’t fight? He didn’t put up any struggle whatsoever.”

“So?”

Joss sighed. “He put the hit out on himself.”

Echo furrowed her brow. “People can do that?”

“Sometimes. Not a lot, but it happens. Suicide is harder than some people think. If you can’t go on anymore, but you also can’t bring yourself to end it all, sometimes it’s easier to spend the cash and have someone do it for you.”

“But how can you tell he was the client?”

“The instructions. Posing the body, washing it, the message. It’s a suicide note. The client also said to minimize the blood or, if that wasn’t possible, to prevent our exposure to it. He has HIV or AIDS. He chose how to go out.”

“That’s so sad.”

Joss said, “I guess.”

“Have you had many jobs like that?”

“Not many. I had a woman who was dying of Huntington’s. She was only thirty-six. She wanted someone to take her out on the town since she’d resisted dating since the diagnosis. So we went to dinner, movies, dancing, I got her off and then I offed her.”

“Wow. That’s... bleak.”

“I was kind.”

Echo stepped close and kissed Joss’ shoulder. “I know.”

Joss didn’t like thinking about that job; it was the only time she’d cried afterward. “Come on. The fog is going to lift soon.”

They’d been in San Francisco for three days. Joss had marveled at Echo’s ability to put her life in Waukegan on hold so she could leave town for an undetermined length of time. First she told her parents that she and Joss needed to head up to Green Bay because an apartment was available to be looked at and they didn’t want to miss the opportunity. She got a few coworkers to cover her shifts at the gas station with a promise she would take the early-morning and rush hour shifts to make up for it when she got back. She was a fantastic liar, and Joss was impressed with how smoothly she cleared her schedule. It was just another example of how Joss had assigned her needs to Echo’s life. If she could put her cover on hold so easily, there was no need to retreat to the middle of nowhere to wait for a phone call.

They went back to their hotel and had sex, working off the excess adrenaline that came with a finished job. Afterward they lay in bed and Echo sighed as she fanned the sweat from her face.

“I’m going to miss this when we go solo. It won’t be the same waiting until I get back to wherever we’re living.”

“You can always casually fuck someone while you’re on the job?”

Echo looked up. “Yeah?”

Joss shrugged. “You’re young. You need to sow your wild oats. You need to experience a full spectrum of lovers. Besides, in this case it’s a matter of biology. You and I both need the release that comes with orgasm. It’s part of the job. Like... letting off steam. If you want, it can even be foreplay. Getting each other all worked up telling each other who we were with.”

Echo said, “Ooh. Let’s try it. Tell me about one of your conquests.”

“You sure?”

“I’m not the jealous type. Besides, I know you’ve been with a lot of people. At least ninety, right? If there’s one after each death.”

“Not necessarily,” Joss said. “But I’ve had my fair share, I guess.” She thought for a moment. Skye. She was a tattoo artist in Utah. Dark, dark eyes, really short hair. She showed me her tats... she was covered with them, and asked if I wanted one. I don’t like anything permanent, no distinguishing marks, so I said no. But she offered to do some temporary tattoos with markers. This was before Colin so I could get away with certain things that would be hard to explain if there was someone at home who would see me naked. So I stripped down and she spent four days drawing this entire fucking comic book onto my skin. There were characters, speech bubbles, fight scenes. She used parts of my body to expand the story. She made it look like my hand was emerging from a crack in the pavement.” She held up her hands. “That was my left hand. She tattooed a cock onto the first two fingers of my right hand. I told her it looked so real I was tempted to try making it come. She said she was willing to be a guinea pig for that experience. So I fucked her. Didn’t quite succeed, but it looked good.”

“Mm.” Echo picked up Joss’ right hand and popped the first two fingers into her mouth. She sucked and slipped her tongue between them. “Yeah. I think I’ll be good hearing about your conquests in the future.”

Joss smiled. “Are you sure you’re okay with this assignment?”

“Yeah. We can’t put our personal thoughts and feelings onto the assignments. We can’t pretend to know the reasoning behind why we’ve been hired and trying to fill in the blanks ourselves can only make us insane.”

“Right.”

Echo lifted her head. “Oh no. Did I take away your chance to speechify?”

“Don’t make me slap you, you little brat.”

“Oh, mama, treat me mean.” She rubbed herself seductively against Joss’ side, and Joss couldn’t help but laugh. “So tomorrow I go back to Waukegan and start looking for places online. You go back to Pierre and start easing out of your old life. Then at our next meeting we’ll figure out where we are.”

“Right.”

“Your one hundredth job.”

“My one hundredth kill,” Joss said. “And after that... you’ll go solo.”

Echo’s hand went still between Joss’ breasts. “I’m not ready for that.”

“You are. You were close in New Orleans, you just made one mistake. Before that you did an amazing job. You got away and you stayed safe until I showed up to help you with the mess. You’re good at this, Audrey. I know you love the name Echo, but you’re more than that now. You’re more than my apprentice now. You’re going to stand on your own two feet. And if you stumble, I’ll be there to catch you. But I don’t think you’ll need me.”

“Shows what you know.”

“At work,” Joss clarified, tightening her grip on Echo’s waist. “You won’t need me at work.”

They slept, and in the morning they drove to the airport. Myles had arranged their flights together, so Joss would fly back to O’Hare with Echo, pick up her car, then drive another half-day back to Pierre. It was almost worth it to spend another few hours with Echo. On the flight, as Echo dozed, Joss watched the desert pass underneath the wing. She thought about Echo’s insistence that she celebrate her hundredth death somehow, but she couldn’t imagine what sort of ceremony that would entail.

She’d spent her entire career insisting that the deaths didn’t matter. How could she justify commemorating one even if it was the one-hundredth. But the thought of spending the job with Echo would be enough of a celebration for her.

#

Joss put her bags in the backseat of her car, then turned to Echo. “Sure you can’t stay?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how long it’ll take to tie up everything in Pierre. I have to be subtle about it so no one comes looking.” She kissed Echo and held her close before reluctantly parting. “I’ll keep in touch. Let you know how things are going.”

Echo nodded. “I’m glad you got to see me at home. It kind of, um...” She searched the street behind Joss as she tried to find the words. “It makes the transition easier.”

“I know what you mean.” She kissed Echo once more and then let her go. “I should get on the road. I’ll be arriving in the middle of the night as it is.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Joss saw Echo’s parents watching from the doorway and waved goodbye to them. She got in the car, glanced at Echo in the rearview, and reluctantly pulled away from the curb.

For the trip to Waukegan she’d stopped only when it was absolutely necessary. Returning to Pierre she took advantage of gas stations, topping up her tank because she saw a low price, and she lingered over meals in restaurants that she had to leave the highway to reach. She decided to split her trip into two days, stopping in a motel and getting a good night’s rest before she continued on. The speedometer dropped as she neared South Dakota’s border to the point where cars were weaving around her like she was a stone in a stream.

Finally she’d stalled as long as possible and pulled into her driveway. Madison came out as she was unloading the car and offered to help carry the bags inside. “How was your trip?”

“Fine,” Joss said wearily.

“Lots of problems to sort out?”

“No. Not really.” She put a hand on the back of her daughter’s head. “Sometimes to fix a problem, you have to put in a lot of hard work. People’s feelings can get hurt.”

Madison nodded. “Yeah. But if everyone’s happier in the end, it’s for the best. Right?”

“Exactly so,” Jocelyn said, slipping back into the mother role as she took the last bag and followed Madison back to the house. 

The girl stopped at the front door. “That woman was over here while you were gone. She didn’t spend the night. I made sure she didn’t. But Daddy said you knew.”

“I did. It’s okay if she spends the night. But thank you for looking out for me, Maddie.”

Madison looked at her. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You never call me Maddie. You call Tommy by his full name, too.”

Jocelyn smiled. “Just a little tired. Come on, let’s go inside.”

Madison took her bags upstairs, and Colin came out of his nook to greet her. “How was it?”

“Fine. I was going to get the kids some Golden Gate souvenirs but I didn’t have a chance to pick anything up.”

He frowned. “I thought you were going to Chicago.”

She stared at him. “I did. What did I say?”

“Golden Gate? San Fran is pretty far from Chicago, Jocelyn.”

She closed her eyes. “Right. Jesus, I’m tired. Is there anything in the fridge I can nuke?”

“Yeah, some pizza.”

Jocelyn went past him into the kitchen and retrieved the pizza. She was tired, but she was also looking too far ahead. She foresaw a very near future where she wouldn’t have to lie about what she was doing and it made her sloppy. She rested her hands on the counter as the microwave slowly spun, eyes closed as she tried to accept the fact she would be trapped in the Webb house for at least the next few weeks. Maybe even a few months. The divorce and disappearance would have to be done gradually. All the threads she’d tied so neatly to form a web of protection would have to be undone slowly.

Colin came into the kitchen and watched her. She hadn’t turned on the light, and he was just a dark shape outside the reach of the microwave’s glow.

“I’m being transferred,” she said.

“What?”

“Green Bay.”

He thought for a moment. “That doesn’t make any sense. You fly all over the country anyway; what does it matter where you’re based?”

“Don’t ask me. Management made the decision to close down the Pierre branch, so unless I want to commute ten hours each way...”

Colin sighed. “Well. Okay. Uh, Maddie won’t be happy. She’ll want to graduate with all her friends.”

“She can stay.” Joss took her slices out of the microwave and tore off a few paper towels to serve as a plate. “You can all stay. I want a divorce.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Jocelyn. This again?”

“Madison told me Shannon was over while I was gone. Cut me out, you guys can be a nice little family.”

“Madison doesn’t like Shannon. And besides, we’ve gone through all of this before, Jocelyn. We were on the edge, I told Shannon the end was nigh, and now we’re in counseling. You have no idea how hurt she was when I told her divorce was off the table again.”

“Poor little mistress.”

Colin rubbed his eyes. “You win, Joss. Either way, you win. So why do I even bother fighting?”

Jocelyn looked at him. “I told you not to call me Joss.”

“Right.” He sighed. “If we have to pack up and move to Green Bay, we’ll do it as a family. We’ll talk about it with Dr. Teague. I’ll break it off with Shannon and find someone who hasn’t been on this roller coaster. You’ll go off on your little assignments, and I’ll stay here to write. It’s what we do, Joss. It’s what we’ve always done. And until Maddie goes to college, it’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Jocelyn watched him walk out of the kitchen, his shoulders slumped in defeat, and she chewed the pizza that had turned to tasteless cud in her mouth. Madison had two years of high school left. Two years before she could entertain the possibility of going to be with Echo. It wasn’t impossible, but at the same time it devastated her.

She could just run. Pack for a job, fly out, and then just never return. She could disappear in the night. She looked at the silverware drawer and thought of a particularly sharp knife they rarely used. She could just eliminate the Webb family like shedding a costume. She’d sworn she would never kill for free, but in this instance the reward would be escape. But as much as that would solve, she doubted she could actually kill a kindergartner. And Madison was a great kid. Colin... she could kill Colin, but then she’d have to find a place for the kids, and Jocelyn Webb would be the prime suspect. She’d be a fugitive. 

No. She wanted a clean break. And if it took her two years to get one, she would just have to find a way to make that work.

#

Madison was at a pizza party with her friends, and Colin had taken Thomas to some animated monstrosity with a group of raucous children. Jocelyn stayed home and called Echo, a conversation that quickly denigrated into phone sex and mutual masturbation. Jocelyn revealed the hiccups in their plan, and Echo assured her that two years would be nothing.

“It would be good, in fact. It would give me a chance to breathe, you know? Get away from my parents, live on my own a bit. I would love to jump right into a place with you. But if we have to wait to do it right, then let’s do it right.”

Jocelyn smiled. “You are worth waiting for.”

“You are, too. I waited my whole life for you to show up. What’s two more years?”

She closed her eyes. “I’ll call you again this weekend. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to find the time.”

“Okay. Oh, uh. This weekend is actually pretty busy. I’m driving up to Green Bay to look at apartments. I should be available in the evenings, though.”

“And Green Bay is only about ten hours from Pierre if you get lost on the highway.”

Echo laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. I love you, Joss.”

“I love you, too.”

She hung up feeling farther away from Echo than ever, then went to do some busywork just to occupy her mind. She was trying to remember where they kept the vacuum when the doorbell rang. Jocelyn checked the clock as she went to answer, wondering who would be bothering them on a Friday night. She checked the peephole, groaned, and opened the door.

“Hi, Shannon.”

“Jocelyn.” 

The two women stood awkwardly on the front porch, the threshold between them. Finally Shannon broke the silence.

“We haven’t officially met. Not without the secret out in the open. So, um.” She tightened her jaw and narrowed her eyes, and her voice broke when she said, “Let him go.”

Jocelyn stared. “Who?”

“Colin. You don’t love him. He’s known for a long time that you don’t love him. But he just broke up with me, and it’s because of you.”

“Shannon, trust me, I tried to let him go. I brought up divorce. He refused to hear it.”

“Make him hear it. I love him. He deserves to be happy, not chained to you.”

Before Echo, Jocelyn would have slammed the door in the smitten cop’s face and dealt with whatever fallout it caused. Now, though, she couldn’t help feeling bad for the girl.

“How old are you?”

“What?” She hesitated and then finally said, “Twenty-nine.”

Jocelyn shook her head. “A baby. You’re a baby, Shannon. You came here to make me let Colin go, but I’m telling you to. You’re young and he is an anchor. I believe he loves you, and I believe he wants to be with you. But he’ll use you. He can’t help it. You’ll end up shackled to this man, supporting him, letting him leech off of you for the rest of your life. He broke up with you and one day you’ll see that as the best thing that could ever have happened to you. Take the win, Shannon.”

“Bitch.”

“I’m trying to be kind.”

Shannon’s eyes were wet now. “Divorce him.”

Jocelyn said, “No.”

If she hadn’t started closing the door, she might have had time to react. As it was her balance was off and her mind had effectively considered the confrontation over by the time Shannon took her hand out of her pocket. The gun was small, definitely not police-issue, but they were close enough that the first bullet still rocked Jocelyn back on her feet. She stumbled to the right, then to the left as the second bullet hit just below her clavicle.

Jocelyn hit the tile of the entryway and stared at the texture of the ceiling. Her eyes were wet, and her face was splattered with warm droplets of blood

“Oh, motherfucker,” she gasped. 

Shannon came into the house, the sound of Jocelyn’s desperate inhalations like the rattle of an industrial machine. She lifted her hand in a futile attempt to fend off the cop as she knelt beside her, and she felt the rough grip of a gun being pressed into her hand. Shannon carefully applied Jocelyn’s fingerprints to a weapon she had never fired, but would ironically label her as an attempted murderer. Her eyes were wet as her mind provided the story even as her vision dimmed at the edges.

_I came over to talk to her. Yes. I’m her husband’s mistress. But we had an understanding. God, I thought we had an understanding. She came at me. I tried to resist, tried to get away, but eventually I had to take the weapon and... I can’t stop thinking about those poor children._

Jocelyn closed her eyes. She conjured up an image of Echo, a pale strip of her cheek lit by moonlight and one pebbled nipple under her thumb, a Picasso-disaster of the beauty she’d had for much too brief a time. She wondered if there would be a moment when she passed, if it would be like drifting off to sleep or if she would just cease to think. She gathered her will, a quickly-drying commodity, and focused it all on a single final thought.

_Echo. Audrey... I’m so sorry._


	30. Epilogue

Echo parked down the street from her target and settled in for a long wait. Her hair was longer now, still dyed red although she’d gone a shade darker the last time she touched it up. It had been a year since Joss’ murder. She still had nightmares where she was present when the cop pulled the trigger, watching but unable to stop it from happening. She would wake in a cold sweat, gasping for air between sobs, clutching her chest until she stumbled out of bed and curled in a ball on the floor. She cried less now, suffered fewer anxiety attacks, and she was back on a regular schedule with Myles. She unofficially took Joss’ place as the organization’s Midwest operative, and she honored her with every hit she carried out. There had been no further situations like the one in New Orleans, no messes where she had to be bailed out. She owed it to Joss to be the best assassin working, and she strove to make it true.

She’d been startled when Myles showed up at her home one afternoon wearing a dour suit and, for the first time since she’d met him, actually looking his age. She’d known he was older than Joss, but his hair was gray at the temples and his skin was ashen and pale. As he explained why he was there, Echo felt herself aging as well. He told her Joss was dead, swore backwards and forwards that he’d had no involvement, and she reluctantly believed him. She wasn’t aware she’d fallen until he crouched next to her and rubbed her shoulders, telling her Joss had sent him something. A video.

She still had the disc, but she didn’t really need it. She had the entire thing memorized. Joss was sitting on the couch in the guesthouse, wearing a shirt unbuttoned at the collar.

“Hi, Echo. You can probably guess I’m making this on your laptop. I filmed it the weekend I came down here to meet your parents, to see how you lived. You brought up Greta, and the whole New Orleans situation, and I... I told you the truth. Myles sent me there to clean up your mess, and in the past that would have meant killing you. I couldn’t do it. Even then I loved you too much to do what I was supposed to. I wanted to spare you that angst in the future, so I made this video and I’m sending it to Myles. I hope he never has to use it, but if he does... well... hopefully you’ll follow his instructions with a clear conscience.

“In Astoria, Oregon, I failed the mission. You thought it was a test for you, and I was willing to let you believe that. The truth is, I told the target to run because I didn’t want to kill him. I decided to let him live even knowing what it would mean for me professionally. I would have told Myles I failed and I would have been a liability for all my future jobs. I know how it would have gone down. He would have let me keep training you, the whole time thinking I was unreliable. When I finally reported you were ready, he would have made me your first solo target. He would have sent you after me.

“There’s a chance it will happen again in the future. You’ve awakened so many things in me that I thought were dead that I have no way of knowing what will come up next. There’s a very real chance the next time we go out I’ll pull my punches. Or I’ll decide to come home without pulling the trigger. I don’t know what will happen next, and I love that about you, Echo. You make me excited for what’s next, even if it’s bad.

“So if something does happen, and if Myles has to order my death, I want you to know three things. One, I’m glad it’s you. I want yours to be the last face I see, and if you have to be holding a gun to make that happen then... well. I can accept that. Two... do it. I know it’ll hurt. But I also know that refusing or backing out will only make you a target in Myles’ eyes. And three. I forgive you. When and if the time comes I’ll try to say it in the moment but just in case it’s not possible. I forgive you.

“So that’s all.” She looked down, looked to her left, and then looked back into the camera. “I love you, Audrey.”

Echo wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she remembered the video. One year ago on this date, she’d been in Green Bay looking at properties to begin their life together while Joss lie dead in her foyer with the cop who killed her waiting for backup to come so she could file a fictional report. In that time Echo had only gone on three assignments. Myles was willing to give her bereavement time, but his patience wore thin and she knew she would have to start agreeing to jobs if she didn’t want to get cut loose. So she started saying yes when he called, and she felt as if Joss’ spirit guided her as she stalked and planned each death.

She had just gotten back from Iowa, where she’d killed a “businessman” whose knuckles were still bruised from beating his “girls.” She gave the client a slight discount in exchange for a threesome, taking two of them to bed before hightailing it out of town. Both of the girls she chose were older than her, and both had more than a passing resemblance to Joss. 

Down the street, a minivan pulled out of a driveway and Echo focused on her assignment. The target was alone in the house, most likely getting ready for bed after a long night shift. Echo took her gloves from her pocket and put them on. 

In the year since Joss’ death, Colin Webb’s novel had been released to wide acclaim. He was heralded as a rising star, a Midwestern blend of Robert B. Parker and Dennis Lehane. He and Shannon Molloy were newly-married. Madison Webb had arrived home to find her mother dead in the foyer and her father’s mistress standing over her. She had shouted to anyone who would listen that Shannon had killed her in cold blood, but people wrote her off as a hysterical kid. She’d moved out of the house, living with her boyfriend’s family until she finished school and could move away to college. Echo briefly considered contacting the girl and bringing her into her mother’s business, but she didn’t want to take that step. Not yet. Maybe in the future, after she finished school.

Echo got out of the car and walked down the street. People only noticed if strangers acted peculiar, if they were hunched over or furtive. Echo walked as if she belonged, and no one ever looked twice at her. She kept one hand in her pocket, stroking the gun she had brought and wondering if she should check the kitchen for a knife. She liked knives, and she employed them whenever she could.

The front door was locked, sensibly considering her target’s profession, and she walked around to the side door. It led to the husband’s work space and, naturally, it was unlocked. Sloppy and lazy, as she expected him to be. She stepped inside and shut the door silently behind her. There was a small desk with a laptop on it, and she walked over to it. She was an assassin of people, but she could kill thoughts as a bonus. She opened the mini-fridge, took out a can of beer, and opened the laptop. She slowly soaked the keyboard with the beer, watching it foam up around the keys. If he was smart he would have backed his work up in an online cloud. If not... well, poor Colin would just have to start from scratch.

Colin and Shannon had moved into the house after his book went off the charts. He made the down payment with the check he got for the movie rights, which had been fought over until they were in the high six-digits. Echo felt betrayed in Joss’ stead. She supported him for twenty years, and when he finally wrote the book that would make them rich just before his mistress killed her. Now the bastard could cry over spilled beer.

She slipped through the interior door to a laundry room, leaving the writing room behind for the kitchen. A rack of gleaming knives stood next to the stove, their sleek black handles so inviting as she passed them. Maybe later, just for fun, she would come back and get one to finish the job. She could hear the shower running upstairs and moved carefully toward the stairs. She took her gun out of her pocket and held it by her side as she began to climb.

Echo was in Pierre unbidden, traveling there on her free time (it was closer to eleven hours away, but she wouldn’t hold the error against Joss). The bullets in her gun had the word “JOSS” written on them in small black ink. She would dedicate this death to Joss’ memory, would let Joss’ spirit guide her as she pulled the trigger. Shannon Molloy would be Joss Kurtis’ one-hundredth kill. It was only right.

She still believed in Joss’ tenant, her first-and-foremost rule that she never killed for free. Echo believed in that rule and she followed it to the letter. She rested her hand on the bedroom’s doorknob and closed her eyes to listen to the sound of water in the pipes. She slipped into the bedroom and left the door open behind her for a quick getaway. She moved over to a blind spot near the closet where she couldn’t be seen but from where she could see the bathroom door when Shannon came out. She tightened her grip on her gun and brought it up to the ready.

It didn’t matter if she wasn’t receiving money for this kill. Some deaths were their own reward.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and, if you left a kudos, for that! This book is also available for sale, so if you enjoyed it here please consider leaving a review on one of the sites where it's sold to help others find it!


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